South African BDS Coalition Slams Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene’s visit to Apartheid Israel
29 July 2023
The South African BDS Coalition utterly condemns the visit to Israel of Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene, leaders of the Patriotic Alliance (PA). They are acting in defiance of the global call from Palestinians to boycott Apartheid Israel in solidarity with their struggle for justice, human rights, and self-determination.
In visiting Israel, McKenzie and Kunene are endorsing and legitimising a state that is practicing the crime against humanity of apartheid as defined in the UN Apartheid Convention. Israel's apartheid policies have been condemned by United Nations mechanisms; Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International; B’Tselem, the largest Israeli human rights organisation; and most recently by Al Haq, the renowned Palestinian human rights organisation, in its report entitled: Israeli Apartheid: A Tool of Settler Colonialism.
Convicted bank robber, McKenzie, resigned as mayor of the Central Karoo District after questions were raised about millions of rand that were meant for the eradication of bucket toilets in the area. Kunene, his robber-side-kick and convicted fraudster is a notorious misogynist, hosting parties in 2011 where guests ate sushi off the bodies of half-naked women. These are Israel’s new South African friends.
This sends a disturbing message to the South African electorate. The PA has revealed itself yet again as a party of racism, xenophobia, brutality and exclusion. These reactionary ideologues undermine the struggle for a just and equitable society in South Africa, Palestine and globally, contradicting the values of freedom and justice for which many in this country have given their lives.
The Patriotic Alliance and its supporters are reproducing the disingenuous claims of Israeli propaganda, for its management of water resources and other technological innovations. In reality, the Israeli water system systematically attacks Palestinians’ rights to water and sanitation, actively endangers the health of Palestinians, and holds the Palestinian economy captive to corporations who exploit water for profit.
Just this month the Israeli state owned water company, Mekorot, has reduced the amount of water allocated to Palestinians in Hebron and Bethlehem in the illegally occupied West Bank to provide unlimited water to illegal settlements and drive Palestinians off the small amount of land they have left.
Similarly, technology developed in Israel is deeply entrenched in its system of military occupation, repression, and surveillance. A recent report by Amnesty International highlights how facial recognition software is being used by Israel to consolidate existing practices of discriminatory policing, segregation, and other acts which violate Palestinians’ basic rights.
The SA BDS Coalition call on all South African political parties to reject racism, xenophobia and apartheid and to uphold the principles of human rights, justice, and solidarity with oppressed communities at home and worldwide. Instead of engaging with an apartheid state that perpetuates injustice, we urge all political parties to support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law, dismantles apartheid and respects the rights of all the Palestinian people to return to their land.
Issued by Roshan Dadoo on behalf of South African BDS Coalition, 29 July 2023
