Assignment 1 Semester 2 2026
Unique number:
Due date: August 2026
QUESTION 1 (2 ANSWERS PROVIDED)
Withdrawal from the Rome Statute
The announcement was constitutionally defective because the national executive
treated withdrawal from the Rome Statute as its exclusive foreign-relations power.1
Section 231(1) authorises the executive to negotiate and sign international
agreements, but Parliament had approved the Statute and enacted legislation giving
it domestic effect.1 The Minister nevertheless signed and deposited the withdrawal
notice with the United Nations Secretary-General before obtaining parliamentary
approval.1 This attempted to reverse Parliament’s earlier decision and neutralise the
Implementation Act while it remained valid. In Democratic Alliance v Minister of
International Relations and Cooperation, the High Court held that prior parliamentary
approval was constitutionally required.1 The executive’s conduct therefore breached