Gift of the Givers' Imtiaz Sooliman calls on ANC to consider Palestine cause in coalition decisions

“The ANC government must be very careful about what partnerships and what coalitions they make in this country for a new government because I don’t want Naledi Pandor to be removed,” said Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman on Wednesday 12 June.

“I’m actually gonna ask the president to reinstate her,” said Sooliman at a media briefing about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war at the Desmond and Leah Tutu House in Cape Town.

While he did not directly address it, fears have been raised within the ANC around whether South Africa’s case against the Israeli state at the International Court of Justice could impact coalition talks.

As Daily Maverick associate editor Ferial Haffajee explained, a senior ANC leader said the party would first need to establish politics that it cannot negotiate - and would be hard to crack. This included foreign policy, as the ANC is pro-Palestine, while the DA is seen to be not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4G55-Rcb34

“He {the President} has a choice of two cabinet ministers,” said Sooliman and added: “he needs to bring her back”.

At number 86, Pandor narrowly missed the cut to return as an MP as the African National Congress (ANC) only managed to get 73 seats in the National Assembly, as explained by Daily Maverick parliamentary correspondent Marianne Merten. ​​Two ministers can be drafted from outside the members within the National Assembly.

Read more in Daily Maverick: The ANC haemorrhaging continues — Cele, Modise, Zulu and Pandor won’t return as MPs

South Africa has stood out for humanity

Sooliman said South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice gave the nation status, akin to former President Nelson Mandela wearing a green Springbok jersey during the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, while exemplifying reconciliation. South Africa, which "couldn't keep the lights on" back home, had stood out for the whole world in terms of human rights, humanity and justice.

He said that the ICJ genocide case was ‘critical’ — and should there be new changes in government or the international relations portfolio, “don’t stop that process”.

He gave a direct call to the ANC to be “very careful about what coalitions what partnerships are in because we cannot stop this process.. there has been no government, no institution more brave than what South Africa has done”.

Read more in Daily Maverick: 

• Palestinian struggle has been internationalised by Israel’s relentless assaults

• Explainer — the ICC arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, and how they could play out

Sooliman then made a plea to all ‘liberation movements’ within Parliament to “stop fighting, stop having egos and to stand together as liberation movements in the interests of the people of our country, the continent and the world”.

Sooliman said it was not only owed to the Palestinian people but “to all people” in the spirit of Ubuntu. “What happened in the Holocaust should never happen again…What happened in Rwanda should never happen again…What happened in other parts of the world should never happen again and what’s happening in Gaza should never happen again. We keep saying never again but it still keeps happening”.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East crisis news hub

Also during the briefing, former MP and grandson of Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela questioned what had happened to the calls for the closure of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv. “Who is in that building?” he asked.

He clarified he was calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, the closure of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv and a stop to airlines coming into South Africa from Israel.

Read more in Daily Maverick about the policies of the various parties here : Will Foreign policy differences be a deal-breaker in South Africa's coalition negotiations? DM