By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle 
“As long as children are being murdered by the apartheid regime in Israel, we have unfinished business.”
The South African government is being called upon to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, with protesters in Cape Town saying that “as long as children are being killed in Gaza, we have unfinished business.”
Organizers of a mass protest on Saturday handed over a memorandum to a Parliament representative calling for the adoption and enactment into law of the Apartheid Convention Bill “which will enable the state to make boycotts, sanctions and divestment (BDS) against Israel by South Africans compulsory and mandatory.”
In addition, the bill will allow for the prosecution and punishment of “all those implementing and/or supporting Apartheid anywhere in the world.”
“As long as children are being murdered by the apartheid regime in Israel, we have unfinished business. As long as boycott and divestment and sanctions are not the law of South Africa, we have unfinished business,” anti-apartheid veteran and activist Reverend Allan Boesak told the crowd, adding “And we will continue to raise this until everybody knows.”
Calling on the South African government to cut all diplomatic and economic ties with Israel, veteran anti-apartheid activist Dr Allan Boesak said at a protest in Cape Town on Saturday that “As long as boycott and divestment and sanctions are not the law of South Africa, we have… pic.twitter.com/GCjjkMzcas
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 6, 2024
The country’s National Assembly adopted a motion in November calling for the government to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel with an approved amendment by the ANC.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, “refused to sign it,” said Boesak. “As long as he defies the will of Parliament, and as long as he defies the will of South Africa’s people, we have unfinished business.”
Criticism of Government
Accepting the memorandum and bill on behalf of Parliament, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, Supra Mahumapelo, assured the crowd that “when Parliament is approached by the people” and requested to “respond to the memorandum and at the right time give feedback to the people, Parliament can’t say no.”
“So on behalf of the Speaker, I want to assure you that the Speaker will look at the memorandum in terms of the rules of Parliament and ensure that feedback is given to the leadership that led us here today to deliver the memorandum,” he added.
“Because we know that this is the struggle of the people, not only of South Africa.”
In an interview with The Palestine Chronicle, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, Supra Mahumapelo, responds to concerns that the South African government is not doing enough to pressure Israel.
A mass march was held to the… pic.twitter.com/zM9NTOwLcK
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 6, 2024
In an interview with the Palestine Chronicle Mahumapelo acknowledged the criticism and concerns of those who say the government “may not be moving fast enough.”
“We hear them, we sympathise with their view and we agree with them,” he said.
Coal Exports
One of the issues raised as a concern was South Africa’s coal export to Israel.
According to the Global Energy Embargo Coalition, South Africa has supplied Israel, since October 2023, “with 496.4 Kilotons of coal, which constitutes 15% of Israel’s total coal consumption over the same period.”
The coal provides “energy which is vital for the regime to function, for its military apparatus, for the fascist Israeli society to function,” said Martin Jansen, a representative of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), one of the organizations behind the memorandum and bill presented to Parliament.
In August, Colombia announced it would suspend all coal exports to Israel, following its earlier decision to sever all diplomatic ties with Israel due to Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.
The protest organizers also called on the South African government “to invoke and give effect to the UN Resolution 377A, the Uniting for Peace resolution against Israel for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the genocide and daily terror against the Palestinians and the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the rest of the Middle East.”
“Once peace has been restored and Israel is under international control, historical Palestine should be placed under a UN mandate supervised by states that have historically opposed Israel and its colonial genocide of the Palestinian people,” they demanded.
They are also calling for “Zionism to be declared an illegal racist ideology and outlawed internationally.”
Diverse Support
“In view of the urgency” of the situation, the organizers, which include the PSC and the BDS-SA Coalition, called on parliament “to provide weekly updates on the progress with the passage of the bill” and all action points.
The protest, attended by at least 5,000, was supported by a cross-section of the South African community, including Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Jared Sacks of South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) told The Palestine Chronicle there was “no such thing as a justified ethno-state” and it was important to be in support of the freedom of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/wwRWZmestl
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 6, 2024
“As a Jew, but also as a human being, it is important to support the rights and equality of all human beings,” Jared Sacks of the South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJP) organization said.
“There’s no such thing as a justified ethnostate, and so we must be in support of the freedom of Palestine and the creation of a one state for everyone,” Sacks told the Palestine Chronicle.
‘Facts and Evidence’ – South Africa Says ICJ Genocide Case against Israel Will Continue
South Africa filed a case against Israel in late December arguing that it had violated its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The legal team will provide the UN court with its arguments for the case this month, amid reports that Israeli diplomats were being instructed to lobby members of the US Congress to pressure South Africa into dropping the case.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.
One has to ask ‘who or what entity owns the coal resources supplying the murderous entity’. I’ll bet they were busily supplying them during the apartheid times too. Things change, but the bottom line is the bottom line. Shape up Cyril or hit the road.