SA’s new international relations and co-operation minister, Ronald Lamola, has committed the country to a policy of “active non-alignment”. This is after SA repeatedly aligned itself with Russia, China and a multitude of terror groups under his predecessor, Naledi Pandor.
Now is a good opportunity for Lamola to show that sympathising with the plight of Palestinians is not accomplished by tacitly supporting a terror group that brutally rapes and murders entire families. And that non-alignment implies a lack of bias, something Pandor failed to demonstrate during her tenure.
Pandor’s reaction to the October 7 attacks on Israel was atrocious, demonstrating the sheer incompetence of her tenure. While she later denied doing so, Hamas is on record saying Pandor congratulated them in the wake of its brutal massacre of over 1,200 Israelis. The SA government compounded this support for Hamas’s cause by taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and continuing to ignore the terror group’s crimes.
The Women’s Action Campaign SA hosted a webinar in June to discuss what happened on October 7 2023. Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel head of research Carmit Klar-Chalamish, and chief superintendent Mirit Ben Mayor of Israel’s police, both shared evidence, testimony and information about what happened on October 7.
They presented overwhelming evidence, gathered from witnesses, survivors, forensics and over 500,000 collected pieces of film, photographic and visual evidence, that Hamas committed a pre-planned, brutal and systematic campaign of mass sexual violence.
Terrorists captured on the day have admitted that they were ordered to “murder”, “hurt”, “kidnap”, and “dirty” Israeli civilians. When asked for clarification on the meaning of “dirty”, the terrorists explained that they were ordered to rape Israeli women.
These were just some of the horrific scenes that took place on October 7. Beheadings, genital mutilation, insertion of weapons into intimate areas and brutal torture were the norm, not exceptions. And for many of those who were taken hostage this abuse did not end there.
An Israeli woman named Amit, one of the surviving hostages, has testified about her sexual abuse at the hands of her captor. Of course, most of the victims can no longer speak. They were murdered. Hamas’s goals were clearly genocidal — they took the lives of most of their victims, often after — and even during — committing sexual violence.
While Hamas has subsequently been quoted in SA media denying that this sexual violence occurred, it has been incredibly proud and unabashed everywhere else. Those who carried out the atrocities filmed themselves doing so, and published much of it themselves, sometimes live. And those who have been captured alive haven’t expressed any remorse. Their hatred is fanatical.
Wrong side
SA’s accusations against Israel at the ICJ made it complicit in Hamas’s crimes. By using “lawfare” to fight Hamas’ war on the global stage SA picked a side full of terrorists, murderers and rapists.
This is not the first time SA has picked the wrong side. The country was almost kicked out of the International Criminal Court for its reluctance to arrest genocidal war criminal Omar al-Bashir. The ANC regime has repeatedly defended the Zimbabwean regime, even when it was complicit in ethnic cleansing.
SA officials have cordially met with leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas, two designated terrorist organisations. Pandor and her government also repeatedly cozied up to Iran, Russia and China, countries engaged in either war, genocide or enabling terrorism.
SA’s foreign policy has been for sale, allowing rogue states, dictators and questionable regimes to use SA on the global stage in exchange for bribes. This behaviour could well still result in SA being kicked out of a lucrative trade agreement with the US and has soured our relations with Western allies.
SA needs to atone for its complicity in aiding Hamas terror. The country also needs to send a clear message that it does not tolerate rape, a particularly pertinent message considering that 25% of surveyed South Africans believe rape can be justified.
SA can redeem itself, but Lamola cannot follow in Pandor’s footsteps. If he is serious about committing this country to a policy of non-alignment he needs to mend the damage Pandor caused. SA must rescind its foolish accusations at the ICJ, wholeheartedly acknowledge and condemn the mass sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas, and commit SA to a policy of reconciliation with Israel.
Not only will this balance our foreign policy back to neutrality, more importantly it will signal to the world that we are a mature nation that genuinely respects human rights.
• Woode-Smith is an author, economic historian and political analyst based in Cape Town.
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