The council of the South African chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement is expected to sit for the first time this afternoon since it was launched in November last year. The council, according to convenor, Rev Frank Chikane, is made up of Palestine solidarity groups, political parties, trade union federations, and religious and community groups. Speaking at a pro-Palestine rally on Saturday, Chikane said the council is meant to discuss and agree on a programme of action, based on the declaration of the launch conference, that will involve boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.

“We agreed to boycott of anything that comes from Israel or goes to Israel. We boycott everything and we have talked to trade union federations and they have agreed that we are going to deal with those products that are sent to Israel and they have said they would support it,” Chikane said. With unions on board, the boycott can be carried out in a way that will protect workers “because it is the workers who are going to say at Richard’s Bay, ‘we are not moving this coal to Israel’.”

Chikane told the hundreds of people who gathered at the Sea Point promenade that Israeli ships hoist flags of other countries to avoid scrutiny and accountability. One such ship, carrying Israeli materiel into west Africa, was prevented from docking in southern Africa and in Angola. The international solidarity action forced the country that registered the ship to rescind its flag because that country could not sustain it. “We want to campaign so that the flags they use are brought down and their ships should have no flag so that they cannot move,” Chikane said.

‘Charge Trump for genocide‘

Chikane who is a former director general of the presidency under Thabo Mbeki called for the United States president, Donald Trump to be charged under the 1948 genocide convention over his recent threats to take over Gaza. “Trump said that he is going to take over Gaza, throw the Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt and turn it into a riviera. Trump has just defined himself as genocidal and that qualifies him to be charged under the genocide convention. You can’t plan to remove Palestinians from their homes and expect not to be charged in terms of the 1948 genocide convention,” he said.

South African supporters of Israel agree with Chikane that it is South Africa’s court action against Israeli genocide that has led to Trump’s attack on South Africa. Earlier this month, the South African Zionist Federation released a statement condemning what it calls “SA government’s dangerous continuation of ICJ case amid declining relations with the US.”

PSC to take NPA to court

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which organised the rally, criticised the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI – the Hawks) for not prosecuting cases against South Africans serving in the Israeli Defence Force without getting permission from government.

“Many young men and women from South Africa regularly go to Israel and serve in the genocidal army and for the past 10 years as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, we have been trying hard to get them prosecuted. In 2014, we referred our first case to the NPA and the Hawks. We said they are breaking the law. In South Africa there is a Foreign Military Assistance Act which prohibits any South African serving in any army anywhere in the world. In order for South Africans to serve in any army, they must get the permission from the minister… The bad news is the NPA has done nothing to those people,” said PSC chairperson, Martin Jansen.

In November last year, the PSC protested outside the NPA offices in Cape Town and according to Jansen, they met with the head of the NPA and the Hawks and promises were made but those promises have not been kept. “They said yes it is an important issue and they agreed with us and that they would convene a national meeting with the NPA head and the head of the Hawks and other government people. They lied to us. That meeting was supposed to have taken place at the end of last year. Nothing has happened since and they have been quiet. We have decided as the PSC to refer the NPA to the High Court to force them to prosecute,” he said.

The PSC says that there is no South African citizen that has asked permission from government to serve in the Israel army. The PSC, according to Jansen, received the list of people who have asked for permission to serve in foreign armies from the minister of defence and military veterans and there is no South African who has asked for permission to serve in Israel. “By virtue of that alone it is sufficient to prosecute these people who are serving in Israel’s army. That is more than enough but yet the NPA has done nothing,” he said.

The Hawks spokesperson, Brigadier Thandi Mbambo said that they are investigating cases that have been brought to the attention of the Hawks. In October last year, the Hawks announced that it has launched an investigation into Aaron Bayhack, a Johannesburg resident who has been identified as a member of an Israeli army sniper unit. “An investigation continues on other matters that were already brought to the attention of DPCI,” she said.

The NPA did not respond to questions from Elitsha by the time of publication.