Deputy President Paul Mashatile on Friday said former President Nelson Mandela would have moved mountains to fight to end the Israeli military onslaught on the people of Gaza and to have Hamas release the civilian hostages.Picture: Doctor Ngcobo/Independent Newspapers
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has defended South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in defence of the people of Palestine.
Mashatile said for 30 years, the international community had looked to South Africa to play a leading role in championing the values of human rights, democracy, reconciliation, and the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment.
Speaking at the Riverside Mosque in Durban on Friday, the deputy-president said former Mandela ‘would have moved mountains to fight to end the Israeli military onslaught on the people of Gaza and to have Hamas release the civilian hostages’.
“Taking this case to the World Court to bring about an end to this human tragedy would have been his priority, no matter the cost.”
In the latest developments, President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed the injunction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for Israel to comply with the order it issued last month with regard to its operations in Gaza. He also warned that the situation could become more dire in Rafah if Tel Aviv did not stop its bombardment.
The ICJ said the situation was already perilous and Israel must implement provisional measures.
Mashatile said it was important that South Africa maintained its principles in international relations: “At the end of the day, what do we have if not our principles?
“We have shown the world that South Africa’s human rights foreign policy did not end with Madiba. We are as committed today to the universality of human rights as we always were to the struggle for justice, freedom, and self- determination.”
He compared the struggle of the Palestinians to South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid, saying ‘it should be for all freedom-loving people of the world’.
“Today we can at least say we stood on the right side of history - the side that will not ignore genocide, and fights for the protection of civilians, and children in armed conflict.
“We want the children of Gaza to be able to wake up to see the sun rise another day, to sleep through the night without being petrified of being bombed in their beds, and to walk outside without the fear of a sniper’s gun ending their life before they manage to find a piece of bread to eat,” he said.
The Mercury