South Africa finds itself under a microscope as they prepare to welcome Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Reuters news agency quotes an anonymous source in the SA government as confirming that moving the summit to China was being discussed.
There have been fears of a possible backlash of economic sanctions, which could be imposed by western governments should South Africa allow Putin to enter the country in contravention of the ICC convention, of which SA is a signatory.
Those sanctions could see the country excluded from the main global payments systems, which deal mainly in dollars and euros, or it could face restrictions on investment by countries in the West.
China is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which codifies the ICC.
But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said reports that the Brics summit could be relocated to China were fake, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
And Pandor, speaking at the start of a two-day foreign ministers’ meeting in Cape Town – also attended by Mauro Vieira (Brazil), Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russia), Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India) and Ma Zhaoxu (vice-foreign minister of China, standing in for minister Qin Gang) – was emphatic “the summit will be held in Johannesburg”.
Reuters also reported Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Obed Bapela told the BBC the government was planning to pass legislation which would give it the option about whether or not to honour ICC warrants.
After the country became a signatory to the Rome Statute in 2002, it passed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal. Court Act, which came into effect in August that year.
The Act incorporates the Rome Statute definitions of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, and excludes any type of immunity.
Former president Thabo Mbeki, still an influential figure within the ANC, said in an interview on Radio 702 last month that the summit was unlikely to take place in South Africa.