ANC Youth League to host Malusi Gigaba & Farid Esack for Israeli Apartheid Week [Saturday, 11h30, Cape Town]

ANC YOUTH LEAGUE PRESS STATEMENT:

ANC Youth League Western Cape to hold a Palestine Solidarity event to mark Israeli Apartheid Week with Malusi Gigaba (ANC Youth League’s former President and current South African Minister of Public Enterprises) and Farid Esack as keynote speakers

13 March 2014

ANC Youth League Western Cape will hold an event in solidarity with the people of Palestine on Saturday 15 March 2014 at the Rocklands Civic Centre in Mitchells Plain from 11:30am till 2pm. The event is supported by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel in South Africa (BDS South Africa). Anti-apartheid activist Farid Esack and the Youth League’s former President and Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba are our keynote speakers.

We are joining all progressive forces globally in commemorating Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). We welcome the ANC’s endorsement of IAW at a national level. We will intensify our actions and calls for a boycott of Israeli products. Israel like apartheid South Africa must be isolated from the international community so a just peace can be achieved. In line with the ANC’s and the Youth League’s clear policy positions in support of the Palestinian struggle, we support all calls for greater solidarity with the Palestinians.

It is ironic that the DA, which is attempting to hijack the legacy of our late President Nelson Mandela, is in opposition to President Mandela and his movement’s position on Palestine. The DA sides with the Israeli oppressors instead of the oppressed Palestinians. The DA's sympathy towards Apartheid Israel is blatantly evident and comes from the same right-wing agenda that informs their war on the poor in the Western Cape.

At a gathering of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies’ Cape Committee in April 2012 DA Parliamentary Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said that Israel cannot be compared to an apartheid state. Most shockingly she said that Palestinians are more responsible for the violence than Israel. Mazibuko said, “A couple of atrocities have been committed – many more on the Palestinian side”.

This skewed position is in stark contrast to President Mandela’s unwavering support for the freedom of the Palestinian people from Israeli apartheid. President Mandela said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".

Issued by:

Muhammad Khalid Sayed (ANCYL Western Cape Convenor) 084729722
Mbulelo Memani (ANCYL Western Cape Coordinator) 0793010061
Marissa Van Rensburg (ANCYL Western Cape Head of Communications) 0762748062