Cape Town — South Africa has spent over R17 million for its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed on Wednesday during his adjustments budget speech.
South Africa filed yet another case against Israel to the ICJ this week in a bid to file evidence of a genocide against Israel after it violated the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.
As reported by EWN, the government said that it faced a series of unforeseen expenses totaling R17.3 million related to its case before the ICJ. The adjustments budget outlined that this amount includes costs for hiring legal representatives, interpreter fees, and travel expenses to The Hague.
The Presidency said South Africa’s memorial contained a confidential document of over 4 000 pages, including 750 pages supported by exhibits and annexures to show Israel intent to commit genocide.
Minister of Justice at the time, Ronald Lamola, said in May that three lawyers had offered to provide services for free. He said the costs were mainly due to travel, accommodation and security for him and his legal team.
[HIGHLIGHTS] 2024 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana outlines the country’s fiscal outlook#MTBPS2024 pic.twitter.com/y8QbSaspAe
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) October 30, 2024
Both Lamola and his predecessor at International Relations, Naledi Pandor, have in the past vehemently dismissed suggestions that government was receiving foreign financial aid to pursue the case.
According to The Mail & Guardian, Treasury gave special appropriations that came to a total of R95 million to the Department of Justice and International Relations to cover the total costs of South Africa’s genocide case.
Aside from the R17m spent on the department’s bid, the department was allocated a furtehr R40 million for other requirements associated with the legal proceedings, R38.2 million in special appropriation to cover costs related to the case.
Additional costs include R11.2 billion in spending adjustments in the MTBPS, an amount that will cover the costs of the deployment of troops to African peace-keeping missions.
The department will also receive an additional R683 million for the rehabilitation of infrastructure in municipalities that were hit by floods in the Eastern Cape, KZN, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Free State, while an additional R370 million was set aside to repair damages to infrastructure and schools in the Western Cape.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
