The recent flurry of funded visits to Israel by different sectoral delegations points to the desperate attempts by Israel’s war-supporting friends in South Africa.
Imagine, for a moment, how apartheid South Africa tried in the mid-1980s to persuade the world that its policies were a benign system controlling black people who had no civil or political rights.
The most striking and despicable report is that of academics from several South African tertiary institutions, including the universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Stellenbosch and Free State, and Unisa, who were funded by friends of Israel in South Africa to visit Israel (“Academics rebuild Israeli ties”, December 1). There is no indication whether these academics visited the ruins of the 13 universities crushed by Israeli bombs.
Many academics in South Africa stood with the oppressed against apartheid and fully upheld academic boycotts against the apartheid state. It is horrifying that those who claim to believe in academic freedom and free expression are completely comfortable being paid to visit Israel, renew academic ties with universities and researchers complicit in genocide, and entirely ignore the serious harm done to academic freedom and higher education in Gaza and the occupied territories.
South Africans are a leading global example of the positive impact of boycotts against war crimes and war criminals, yet today some of our academics behave as if academic links during genocide are acceptable. The participation of our academics in this paid visit to apartheid Israel is a shameful mark on our proud history of standing up for the rights of all oppressed people who suffer repression and denial.
This is truly a low moment for the universities and academics who were part of this unwarranted visit.
Naledi Pandor
Former international relations & co-operation minister, current Nelson Mandela Foundation chair
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