Minister Sisulu defends downgrade in face of backlash

TALI FEINBERG

This anger may be having an impact, because on 12 April, she made a number of statements to defend the downgrade decision.

In a presentation titled “Key international relations issues facing South Africa” at the Dr Phyllis Naidoo Memorial Lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Friday night, Minister Sisulu said that she had never pushed for the downgrade.

“In the end, the ANC at its 54th conference took a decision that it was going to order, that it was going to direct the government. At that time, I was sitting in the back seats and it didn’t affect me. I was somewhere in human settlements. They were going to direct the government with immediate effect to downgrade the Palestinian embassy, I mean the Israeli, our embassy in Israel. And it didn’t affect me.”

She later said that she had “inherited” the resolution, and “this is what we have had to implement right now”.

However, if we look back to a speech she made on 4 January 2018, we see that Sisulu has always been an ardent supporter of the downgrade. She said at the time, “I’m hoping out of this we will be able to have regular contact on this matter to ensure that we finally reach our determined destination and ensure that the Israeli embassy is gone. That was the directive that I was given in no uncertain terms, so we still have one outstanding matter, but I’m glad that we’re here.”

She also said, “A very important decision was taken by the ANC at the conference. Unfortunately, the embassy of Israel is not in the Dead Sea, it’s very much in Pretoria, and we still have to work very hard to make sure the final request that was made is carried through.”

On 12 April 2019, she was asked if South Africa would apply a downgrade to other countries with supposed human-rights violations. She responded that she didn’t “know of another country where we would be required to do the same thing, but I am certain if there has been a precedent, that is probably what we are going to do, judging from what the ANC has decided”.

But later, she said that only Israel was being picked out for a downgrade. “The issue of Israel is different in the sense that these are people who have been very much at the centre of our attempt to try to find a solution that will be lasting for the Palestinians with whom we have fought and for the Israelis who live there. It has therefore been part and parcel of what we have been engaged in for a very long time. We have not been engaged in human-rights violations with any other country quite to the same extent.”

This lines up with her comments on 4 January 2018, when she said that, “Two requests were made. One, there must be a downgrading of the embassy, and two, please make sure that tomorrow, the embassy of Israel packs up and goes to the Dead Sea.” This was greeted by a round of applause.

“She may have inherited it from the ANC conference in 2017, but her enthusiasm is clear,” said analyst Sara Gon of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). “You don’t try to find lasting peace between two parties when you shun the one. Israel is not going to give a hoot whether South Africa is there or not. We are insignificant in the scheme of this issue.

“I have little doubt that she is probably a classical left-wing anti-Semite who sees Palestinians only as good victims and Israelis only as bad oppressors. Her feelings are with the Muslim community completely.

“There are countries with worse human-rights violations,” Gon said. “Sudan, countries in Africa that do nothing to halt the slave trade operating [within their borders], Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Myanmar. Don’t tell me she will act similarly with any of those countries!”

Zev Krengel, the vice-president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said, “There is no doubt that there is an unprecedented zeal by the minister to implement this resolution. It is interesting to note how many ANC resolutions have not been implemented, many far more pressing and critical to the South African government’s functioning and ability to deliver. The obsession to implement this resolution is astounding.”

He said he was perplexed by Sisulu’s comment that she was not aware of countries with human-rights violations that would warrant an embassy downgrade. “We recommend that the minister review the Amnesty International Human Rights Index. If the minister’s international-relations policy has changed from engagement to punitive responses, these are some of the countries that she should focus on.”

He also agreed that in abdicating responsibility for the resolution, the minister was displaying inconsistency with the remarks she made on 4 January 2018, only two weeks after the 54th ANC conference.

“In 2018, she was minister of human settlements, yet even then, she was making commitments on issues completely irrelevant to her portfolio. The clear overreach she displayed even then demonstrated a long-term obsession with this resolution,” he said.