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On 16 October, the country watched as President Cyril Ramaphosa publicly condemned the acts of Israel against the people of Gaza and the brutal occupation of Palestine.
“We have a full understanding of how the people of Palestine have taken up this issue, because they are people,” said Ramaphosa.
“They [Palestine] have been under occupation for almost 75 years, and people under occupation who have been waging a struggle against an oppressive government that has occupied their land, but also a government that has in recent times been dubbed an apartheid state. As a people and an organisation that has struggled against an oppressive system of apartheid, we do pledge solidarity with Palestinians.”
On the surface, Ramaphosa’s camaraderie with Palestine may seem like a testament to the strides that have been made since our own liberation in 1994. However, a deeper look into South Africa’s relations with Israel would tell you everything you need to know about where our government truly stands.
For decades, tension has built and died down, each time with Palestinian casualties by the thousands.
A report by The Economist suggests that, between 1987 and 2021, more than 14 000 lives have been claimed in Israel and Palestine, with more than 87% of them being innocent Palestinians. In 2023 more blood has been shed than ever before, as Israelis enforce a slow burning genocide on the Gazan population, many of whom are children.
The South African government’s response to the all too familiar pain of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has been to continue their lucrative trade with Israel.
In 2022, South Africa was recorded to have imports from Israel worth $237.23 million, according to the UN Comtrade database on international trade. A bulk of this is related to agricultural goods.
READ: Mondli Makhanya | 'The evil' that Israel is doing will live long after them
There’s nothing more devastating than performative activism, especially at the cost of lives that largely mimic the experience of the atrocities committed by the South African apartheid government.
Nelson Mandela’s erstwhile protégé has let us down, from walking beside Madiba as he made his historic walk out of the gates of Robben Island and acting as the ANC’s chief negotiator in talks that facilitated the end of apartheid.
