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The South African National Congress (ANC) is considering a motion to cut ties with Israel, which calls for the closure of the Israeli embassy in Pretoria. International Relations Deputy Minister Candith Maseko-Dlamini agreed that calls for the closure have merit, but fellow ANC MP Hope Papo argued that the motion needed amendments. The ANC has until Tuesday's vote to settle its party line, and no decision was scheduled following Thursday's parliamentary debate on the EFF motion. The vote will take place in an entire sitting of the House on Tuesday, 21 November. This gives the governing ANC the weekend to finalise engagements and discussions with the government in talks on the matter and consider its impact on its diplomatic presence in Palestine. The ANC is engaging all relevant stakeholders regarding its diplomatic relations with Israel, given the ongoing war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
Freedom Front Plus Chief Whip Corné Mulder warned that six South African diplomats stationed in Ramallah, Palestine, would lose their diplomatic status and have to live in Ramallah rather than Jerusalem. The motion brought by EFF leader Julius Malema, expertly timed given South Africa's positioning on the Middle East war, puts the government on the back foot. ANC MP and Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s parliamentary counsellor, Hope Papo, highlighted some of these dynamics, emphasising that “we should not move alone” and end up isolated in southern Africa and on the continent.
The ANC is open for an engagement with the EFF, so there could be some amendments. They will not close the embassy and cut diplomatic relations without putting conditions on that. If you do that (cut ties) full stop, then we close the opportunity for continued engagements with other stakeholders… and (lose) the ability to influence the situation.” He emphasised that amendments to reflect conditions were needed, “otherwise the motion will not be carried”.
Unless the ANC and EFF get together before Tuesday’s vote to resolve sticking points, this motion is unlikely to succeed. It wouldn’t be the first time. In February 2018, the ANC supported the EFF motion for expropriation without compensation, also after some fine-tuning.
The debate unfolded in the wake of the ANC and its alliance partner, the labour federation Cosatu, throwing their support behind the EFF motion – without mentioning the EFF. The ANC will agree to a parliamentary motion which calls upon the government to close the Israel Embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel until Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to binding United Nations-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable, and lasting peace.
A day earlier, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa joined “many other countries across the world” to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was in line with International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor’s statement to the House a week earlier, days before the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotserkovsky, was démarched in the sternest rebuke short of expulsion.
Pandor’s stipulations for addressing the conflict were repeated on Thursday – an immediate ceasefire, urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, a UN protection force, and the investigation of Hamas for holding civilians hostage. The debate also included condolences to Gift of the Givers, the group’s Gaza representative since 2013, Ahmed Abbasi, who was directly targeted by the apartheid Israeli forces.
