DA attempt to give credibility to Israeli visit exposed as a lie

16 January 2017

The African National Congress (ANC)  has noted the Embassy of the State of Palestine to South Africa’s categorical denial that the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Honourable Mahmoud Abbas, was ever at any point scheduled to meet with the DA’s Mmusi Maimane.

According to the DA “ A meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled, but was cancelled by his office due to a scheduling conflict in the President’s diary.”

However, in a media statement released today by the embassy of the State of Palestine in South Africa they only learned of Mr. Maimane’s visit though the media, and that no appointments with Mr. Maimane were arranged in Ramallah. They “were officially informed... that no-one of PA officials or leadership were to meet with Mr. Maimane."

It is clear from this is that the DA blatantly lied in their widely disseminated media release of 12th January 2017. This blatant misrepresentation is clearly an attempt to whitewash their visit their ill-concieved visit to the apartheid Israeli state. 

Lying about an alleged appointment with President Abbas was a cheap attempt by the DA and Mmusi Maimane in particular to gain credibility for this visit, which has now spectacularly backfired, exposing the DA for what they are - unprincipled with a callous disregard for the Palestinian people. 

For an organisation that lays claim to the values of Comrade Mandela, which include an unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people, this is hypocrisy at its worst. It our hope and expecation that the DA will act with the same vigour directed at ANC leaders to hold their own leader, the mendacious Mmusi Maimane, to account.

Issued Zizi Kodwa, National Spokesperson, ANC, 16 January 2017