SA Government to Host Iran, Oppressor of Women’s Rights, During 16 Days of Activism

21 November 2022

The South African government has invited Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to visit South Africa on the 28th of November. Shockingly, this visit is set to take place in the middle of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign. For the past two months, the Iranian government has violently suppressed protests calling for women's rights. It is morally repugnant that our government, which claims to champion gender-based violence (GBV), would welcome the Iranian minister as a foreign dignitary during this or any time. The South African government has also extended an invitation to the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, to visit our country in 2023.

These invitations portray the shallowness and hypocrisy of the ANC government’s statements and commitments to the fight against GBV. How can our government be so vocal about women's and children’s rights but then invite these suppressors of women to our country? The South African government has yet to utter a single word of support for the women and girls of Iran.

Female Protests in Iran and Government Response

Since the brutal murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iran’s so-called “morality police” on 15 September, a female-led protest movement has been growing throughout Iran. Their focus is on freeing Iran from the theocratic, totalitarian regime that has been in place for over four decades. Peaceful protests have called for an end to institutionalised misogyny and the patriarchal fundamentalist rule but have been met by the country's authorities with truncheons and bullets. The USA and the EU have exercised harsh sanctions against the Iranian government in response to Iranian police opening fire on crowds of people who gathered to mourn at the graveside of Amini.  

According to the NGO, Iran Human Rights, as many as 326 civilians have been killed by the regime during the past two months and a protester has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court. Evidence indicates that the Islamic Republic may be planning to carry out hasty executions in respect of at least 20 protesters facing charges punishable by death, as per official reports. 

Director of Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The international community must strongly warn the Islamic Republic of the consequences of executing protesters. [By] Summoning their ambassadors and implementing stronger effective human rights action against state officials.” A draft resolution has also been introduced to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. 

As the world denounces the oppression of women by the Iranian regime, the ANC government welcomes it. South Africa is simply paying  lip service to the defence of women’s rights by welcoming  this “foreign dignitary.”

The South African Zionist Federation strongly condemns this engagement and calls on the ANC-led South African government to stand with the Iranian people against the oppressive Iranian regime and to support its state-sponsored GBV campaign.  

Issued by Rolene Marks, Spokesperson, South African Zionist Federation, 21 November 2022