COSATU once again find themselves relegated to the dustbin of political discourse as the South African government lashes out and makes a complete mockery of their childish calls to boycott Israel.
'SA won't break ties with Israel' Pretoria - South Africa was not planning to break diplomatic ties with Israel and calls to do so could not be taken seriously, deputy minister of foreign affairs Aziz Pahad said on Wednesday. "As government we cannot do symbolic things such as the breaking of diplomatic relations and boycotts and isolation under chapter seven of the United Nations [charter], we believe this would not achieve much," Pahad said. The Congress of SA Trade Unions and other organisations supporting Palestine on Tuesday called on the government to end diplomatic relations with Israel and establish boycotts and sanctions. "We believe it's more important for those making such calls to consistently be involved with the peace process in the Middle East and therefore deal more consistently with this issue..." Pahad said. He said if organisations including the Palestinian Solidarity Committee and the South African Communist Party wanted to be taken seriously, they had to discuss the matter with the government and the African National Congress leadership first. "They have not made any preparation for such calls, indeed calls like this coming without any discussion or any preparation I believe we can not treat very seriously," said Pahad. |
It's yet another sign of the increasing chasm between the mainstream ANC leadership and Cosatu and the Communists (who also called for a boycott). South Africa will always support the Palestinians, will always support the Islamic bloc's resolutions against Israel and will always use harder and often one-sided language when condemning Israeli actions. But even they see the cinderella absurdity of the Cosatu calls.
COSATU also said
The "apartheid Israel state" is worse than the apartheid that was conducted in South Africa, Willie Madisha, the Congress of SA Trade Unions president, said today... |
Someone who knows better is the South African ambassador to Israel Major General Fumanekile (Fumie) Gqiba. Gqiba was a commander in the armed wing of the ANC liberation movement Umkhonto we Sizwe. To quote General Gqiba
"The accusations are unfounded, the term "apartheid" is uniquely South African and devalues the struggle of the black population against one of the worst forms of oppression known to man." ("Negotiation is the way", Sowetan, March 2005) |
I'm still not entirely sure how a trade union feels itself qualified to speak on matters of foreign affairs which have absolutely nothing to do with workers' rights...
Posted by: James Clark | July 13, 2006 at 12:32