For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: ANC welcomes government referral of Israel to ICC, closure of embassy, Ramaphosa and Zelensky hammered out first peace topics to take to Moscow over 'lengthy dinner' and, Madagascar heads to polls amid opposition boycott

ANC welcomes government referral of Israel to ICC, closure of embassy

The African National Congress said that it cannot sit back and watch the “genocidal actions” of the Israeli regime, as it welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the South African government has put through a referral to the International Criminal Court.

Ramaphosa revealed that the country had made a referral to the ICC, while calling for a ceasefire and once again echoing the two-State model as a solution.

The ANC explained that given the unfolding atrocities in occupied Palestine, it would agree to a parliamentary motion which called on government to close the Israel Embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel until it agrees to a cease-fire.

It also called for binding United Nations-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace.

Ramaphosa and Zelensky hammered out first peace topics to take to Moscow over 'lengthy dinner'

After official meetings in Kyiv this June, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke informally over a lengthy dinner and two key areas were agreed on that Ramaphosa and a delegation of African leaders could take to Moscow, Russia.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba revealed new details of the engagement between Ramaphosa and Zelenksy during a briefing with a group of African journalists invited to Ukraine by his ministry.

The delegation has spent time in Kyiv and Odessa, and met with a series of top Ukrainian officials.

The two points – prisoner exchanges and the return of more than 20 000 Ukrainian children deported to Russia from occupied territories – originally formed part of a 10-point peace formula that Zelensky introduced to international countries.

Madagascar heads to polls amid opposition boycott

Voters in Madagascar headed to the polls today in a presidential election boycotted by 10 out of 12 opposition candidates and marred by weeks of violent protests.

People queued at polling stations in areas supporting President Andry Rajoelina and his Tanora MalaGasy Vonona party, while those in opposition neighbourhoods were mostly empty.

There was a low-key security presence across the capital.

Rajoelina, who is seeking a third term, warned opponents that trying to prevent people from voting was unlawful as he cast his vote flanked by his wife and children.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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