Obsessed with trying to undermine Israel at every opportunity, South Africa ignores genuine genocides closer to home.
By Allan Wolman
South Africa recently hosted the inaugural “Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine” (10th – 12th May) held in Johannesburg, featuring some ‘illustrious’ international speakers renowned for their impartiality, such as Declan Kearney, the chairman of Sinn Féin, Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian National Initiative, and what would such a conference be without Ronnie Kasrils, the former South African minister of intelligence and longtime champion of BDS who celebrated Hamas’ massacre of innocent civilians on 7 October?
What was the most heinous slaughtering of Jews since the Holocaust was for ANC’s Kasrils a “damned good”, saying:
“They swept on them, and they killed them, and damned good! I was so pleased.”
In her opening remarks, South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor, sporting her distinctive keffiyeh draped over her shoulders, said: “The situation in Palestine should be prioritized by the ICC in order to deliver justice to the victims of these grave crimes,” regurgitating those familiar themes of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide while asserting South Africa’s commitment to righteousness and moral leadership, suggesting a global standard they aim to set.
The conference wrapped up with a resolution urging South African Muslim voters to support the ruling party in the upcoming elections, under the theme of unity behind the ANC. The ruling party expressed gratitude, viewing the endorsement as a testament to their shared values and commitment to their world view.
Like many other countries, South Africa has a defence industry producing and exporting arms and military equipment, governed by regulations and export controls. The South African National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) – was created to ensure that weapons sales align with the country’s constitutional values of respect, human rights and democracy.
The Daily Maverick (14 August 2023) published a report about South African arms exports to Saudi Arabia and UAE, both at war with Yemen, topping an astonishing R9.2bn.
According to Open Secrets, (a non-profit organisation which exposes & builds accountability for economic crimes), South Africa has previously supplied arms to countries such as Rwanda, Syria, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Libya.
Arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sparked controversy, raising ethical concerns when a 2019 court ruling deemed the exports unconstitutional and unlawful, shedding light on fears of South Africa violating of international law.
The war in Yemen has claimed the lives of over 85,000 children and more than 130,000 civilians. After nine years, Yemen faces severe food insecurity, a cholera epidemic, and a collapsing healthcare system, with millions displaced and suffering from malnutrition and disease. The UNHCR identifies Yemen as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with 21 million people urgently needing humanitarian aid and at risk of widespread famine.
At the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and neighbouring countries (Paris, 15 April 2024), participants called
on the warring parties to put an end to the hostilities, comply with international humanitarian law and guarantee full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to the whole Sudanese territory.
The conflict in Sudan is rooted in tensions between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers over land and its resources resulting in over 2 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries. Sudan itself is home to the largest number of internally displaced persons globally, with 9 million affected by the conflict. More than half of Sudan’s population, totalling over 27 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, and facing acute food shortages.
France, Germany, and the EU condemned the violence, including ethnic attacks, indiscriminate bombings, and gender-based violence, particularly against children. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, described the situation as the worst child displacement crisis globally, while the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell, highlighted that the war in Sudan has triggered the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis this year. The head of the UNHCR for the region reported shocking accounts of widespread rape and sexual violence.
There is a fear that was expressed in a press release that the Sudan does not join another “forgotten crisis”.
In an op-ed in the NYT (21 March 2024), the civil war between Ethiopia and Tigray was described as one of the deadliest conflicts of this century with an estimated death toll of over half a million people and the region now facing widespread famine. The report goes on to say that over 100,000 women are believed to have been the victims of conflict-related sexual violence. Ethiopia and South Africa established a Strategic Partnership on February 15, 2024, aimed at political cooperation, economic relations, and deepen bilateral ties.
It’s intriguing to consider South Africa’s foreign engagements amidst arms sales to the Yemen war, President Ramaphosa hosting Sudanese paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti in Pretoria, and recent visits to Rwanda and South Sudan, and a strategic partnership with Ethiopia.
South Africa’s obsessive foreign focus on prosecuting – or more persecuting – Israel at The Hague appears to overshadow the tragedy and conflicts closer to home.
About the writer:
Allan Wolman in 1967 joined 1200 young South Africans to volunteer to work on agricultural settlements in Israel during the Six Day War. After spending a year in Israel, he returned to South Africa where he met and married Jocelyn Lipschitz and would run one of the oldest travel agencies in Johannesburg – Rosebank Travel. He would also literally ‘run’ three times in the “Comrades”, one of the most grueling marathons in the world as well as participate in the “Argus” (Cape Town’s famed international annual cycling race) an impressive eight times. Allan and Jocelyn immigrated to Israel five years ago.
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Excellent
This outstanding article brings home the duplicity of South Africa’s present ANC government who, as with Naledi Pandor, will pander to anything, no matter how unethical or corrupt, to feed their greed for wealth and power. They also ignore S.Africa’s own dreadful and disastrous decay (currently topping worldwide unemployment and crime rates) all due to ANC decadence and inability.