National Assembly Speaker Ms Baleka Mbete (MP) speaking at the Stellenbosch University on the occasion of the 12th annual international Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) campaign
Programme Director
Prof Uri Davis
Prof Mohammed Desai
Comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen
I pass revolutionary greetings to you all in this week that evokes painful and unpleasant images of oppression, pain and sorrow for the men, women and children of Palestine.
At great cost of sacrifice, untold hardship, imprisonment, torture, loss of life, the Palestinian people have been waging a courageous struggle for self- determination and statehood.
Synonymous with South Africa’s painful history, today we gather to continue the struggle with the Palestinian people
And we shall not rest or cease to host this week until the people of Palestine are free.
We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.
In 1994 our nation was born when the values of democracy and freedom triumphed over the evil that was apartheid. Our historic journey to forming a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society was not easy. It took the selfless sacrifice of countless patriots, many of whom paid the ultimate price, which is death.
We will also never forget the unwavering support of the people of Palestine in our darkest hours. The Palestinian people gave us hope for a better future. Hope that we might emerge as a nation and a people free from the oppression of the past. Their hope we still carry today and hope to contribute as people towards their own freedom day.
Today, South Africa is indeed that place. Using the Constitution as our guide we have succeeded in building a nation from the ashes of apartheid. The ideals our forebears expressed in the Freedom Charter we live today through our constitution. Together we have built a country that is recognised for its commitment to democracy, equality and freedom for all.
But this vision cannot be achieved without the prosperity of other nations, progressive forces across the world including the people of Palestine.
Ladies and gentlemen
This year marks 22 years since our historic first steps to freedom and democracy in 1994, and the 20th year of the adoption of our Constitution. All of us must take pride in our nation’s achievements. We of course also know that much more needs to be done to ensure that all our people enjoy the fruits of freedom.
It saddens me that our brothers and sisters and their children in Palestine continue to experience oppression in the land of their birth.
Our country has consistently maintained that the continuing building of settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, is undermining prospects for a two-state solution as envisaged by the United Nations and the international community. We will continue to call for the total cessation of all settlement activities.
We will continue to reaffirm the desire for a two-state solution where the states of Israel and Palestine will co-exist side by side in peace, within secured borders on the basis of the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Capital of Palestine.
Drawing on our own history, we continue to reiterate that the only way to everlasting peace lies in frank and genuine negotiations between Palestinians and the State of Israel with the two-state solution being the ultimate goal.
Programme Director
Let me reiterate, South Africa will not rest until the people of Palestine enjoy the freedom that we do. The 12th annual commemoration of Israeli Apartheid Week allows the people of South Africa to join in solidarity with events across the world to protest the treatment of the people of Palestine.
As we end Israeli Apartheid Week, we must ask if we can do more to end the plight of our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
The solidarity we have noticed across the world gives me hope that we are indeed a step closer to the emancipation of the people of Palestine.
Our combined actions and campaigns are doing much to raise awareness. In South Africa, more than 75 organisations, trade unions, political parties and other groups are at the forefront of raising awareness of Israel's apartheid policies towards the indigenous Palestinians.
They continue to garner support for the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign, which seeks to bring an end to Israel's apartheid policies and violations of international law.
It would be fair to say that progress has been slow. The Israeli regime just like the apartheid regime before it is obstinate and uncompromising. But apartheid eventually crumbled under the weight of history. The iron will of South Africans eventually triumphed and we remain confident that yearning for freedom of the Palestinian people will prevail in the end.
I therefore call upon all progressive forces to continue to be in solidarity with the people of Palestine, for it was civil society and progressive governments that backed our cause that ultimately contributed to the collapse of apartheid in our country. I am pleased to see the growth in support within our border of this just cause.
Ladies and gentlemen
Within this room are the champions who will move the Palestinian cause forward. We must continue to do all we can to expose the injustices of Israeli policy at every turn.
Just as the world rallied to support South Africa in its struggle against Apartheid; we must now give back and support the international movement in solidarity with the indigenous Palestinian people, and their progressive Israeli allies.
Together we can only hope that 2016 is the final year that we commemorate Israeli Apartheid Week. Together we can ensure that Israel ceases its illegal practices and embraces a two state solution that will bring lasting peace and prosperity for all.
Programme Director
In closing allow me to once again appeal to everyone in this room to continue the fight. Every one of us has a role to play in ending the hardship and injustices that continue to plague the people of Palestine. Let us further mobilise our people behind this cause for international justice to be served.
We dare not sit idly by and assume that there will be change without sacrifice. Apartheid was eventually defeated because good people, the world over united to beat it.
I am confident that our unity of purpose will eventually bring an end to Israeli apartheid and injustices. Together we can change the world. Together we can ensure that our brothers and sisters in Palestine will prevail.
I stand here today with confidence to assure the people of Palestine of our government and its people’s support until this system is destroyed.
South Africa will not rest until the people of Palestine are free.
I thank you
Enquiries:
Mandlakazi Sigcawu
Tel: 021 403 2095
Cell: 060 995 8274
Email: msigcawu@parliament.gov.za
