The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s governing political party, wants the country to begin the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it believes the ICC has lost its direction.

“The principles that led us to be members [of the ICC] remain valid and relevant […] however the ICC has lost its direction unfortunately and is no longer pursuing that principle of an instrument that is fair for everybody,” said on Sunday the party’s international relations subcommittee chairperson Obed Bapela.

There were a handful of powerful countries which refused to be ICC members, yet they still had the power to refer matters to the court, Bapela said.

He added that South Africa would continue to carry the flag of human rights and an end to genocide.

The matter is already on the agenda for the upcoming Assembly of State Parties meeting which would be attended by all ICC members in November. It will also be tabled at the African Union summit to be held in January.

This debate arose as the South African government faces criticism for ignoring a South African High Court order to arrest Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir when he was in Johannesburg for an African Union summit last June.

The ICC had issued a warrant of arrest for Bashir, wanting him to stand trial on charges of war crimes and genocide.

The High Court ruled that government had acted unconstitutionally when it did not arrest him.