South Africa's government must seek legislative approval before it can withdraw from the International Criminal Court, a court has ruled, throwing up a roadblock to attempts to part ways with the international tribunal.
Lacking legislative backing, the recent decision to leave the ICC would be unconstitutional, argued the court in the country's administrative capital of Pretoria. It ordered the government to revoke its decision.
South Africa announced in October that it was leaving the ICC on the grounds that its membership hampered government efforts to help resolve conflicts in Africa.
At the time, Justice Minister Michael Masutha highlighted the dilemma South Africa faced in 2015 when Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir - wanted for war crimes by the ICC - attended an African Union summit in Johannesburg. South Africa resisted pressure to arrest him, arguing he had diplomatic immunity.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance took the government to court, arguing that Masutha acted unlawfully by announcing the withdrawal without seeking parliamentary approval.
The North Gauteng High Court said the power to conduct international treaties belonged to the executive, but that such agreements must go before parliament.
There was no immediate reaction from the government.
Burundi and Gambia also announced their withdrawal from the ICC last year. However, newly elected Gambian President Adama Barrow has pledged to reverse his predecessor's decision and keep the country in the ICC.
African countries have accused the ICC of focusing on human rights violations in Africa, instead of other continents. There has been concern that an eventual mass withdrawal by African countries could weaken the authority of the international tribunal.
Advocates of the court retaliate that most of the African cases before the ICC were referred there by African leaders who worried their own courts could not handle the complexities that come with the severe kind of cases that land before the tribunal.
