ANC welcomes Fatah to conference and anniversary bash

Fatah (the political party behind the Palestinian Authority) leaders embraced South African President Cyril Ramaphosa when they attended the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) 55th national elective conference in December. They also attended the ANC’s 111th anniversary celebration, as guests of the ruling party, on 8 January.

There they met with the chairperson of the ANC subcommittee on international relations, Lindiwe Zulu, and the director general of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), Zane Dangor, as well as office bearers of the South African Communist Party.

According to the embassy of “the state of Palestine” in South Africa, “they discussed the political situation in occupied Palestine under the new Israeli government, joint struggle relations, and co-ordinating positions within the framework of African and international mobilisation in favour of the Palestinian cause and its justice. The delegation also conveyed greetings and well wishes from the president of the state of Palestine, HE Mahmoud Abbas.” There were no Israeli delegates at these events.

Glen Segell, visiting professor and research fellow in the department of political studies and governance at the University of the Free State, says Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, also known as the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), are essentially the same thing.

However, Fatah has its roots in terrorism and the obliteration of Israel. The Fatah flag features a grenade with crossed rifles superimposed on the map of Israel. It was established by Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s. The party is led by Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.

“The ANC has again rolled out the red carpet to host its Palestinian comrades, but has repeatedly refused to meet any Israeli officials,” says South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) National Chairperson Rowan Polovin. “We don’t expect more from it. However, we do expect more from the department of international relations and cooperation, which is a government department.

“South Africa has diplomatic relations with both the Palestinians and Israel,” he says. “Dirco, however, refuses to carry out its mandate to engage with representatives of Israel. This discriminatory treatment by our government is reserved solely for the Jewish state. It prevents South Africa from participating in the changing landscape of the Middle East and Africa, which is moving ever closer to Israel and benefitting from Israeli innovations in water, electricity, and other technologies.

“The SAZF calls on the South African government to join the Abraham Accords initiative and de-hyphenate its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This means maintaining an open and productive approach to relations with Israel while at the same time continuing relations with the Palestinian Authority,” Polovin says.

Segell notes that “The Palestine Liberation Organisation is 59 years old this June, while the African National Congress celebrated its 111th birthday in January. They are two of the oldest liberation movements so far.

“Unfortunately, both the PLO and ANC today are far removed from what they once stood for as freedom seeking organisations. The Fatah delegation to the ANC anniversary celebrations shows that they are brothers in arms, but not for their own people. The PLO, after signing the Oslo Accords in 1993 to become the elected Palestinian Authority, became the oppressor of the very people – the Palestinians – whom it wanted to liberate.

“The ANC, once in power in South Africa, morphed into a corrupt entity accused of economic mismanagement affecting, principally, most of the black people it once defended. It’s time for the PLO and ANC to reform themselves and try to set their house in order for the sake of their own history, before it’s too late.”