Cape Town, 15 May 2023: Thousands of supporters of groups and political parties who stand in in solidarity with the Palestinian cause marched through the streets of Cape Town to the country’s parliament. They were marching to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, which is defined as the catastrophe which followed the establishment of the State of Israel and the displacement of the Palestinian people.

Representatives from various groups including the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Deputy Minister of International Relations & Cooperation addressed the large crowd in front of Parliament.

Febe Potgieter, a member of the ruling ANC’s National Executive Committee said: “We gather today to pledge our solidarity with the Palestinian people as they commemorate 75 years of that horrific Nakba which saw three quarters of the Palestinian population forcefully evicted from their land.”

Nazier Paulsen, a member of parliament for the EFF (South Africa’s 3rd largest party) said: “On this day the EFF reaffirms its solidarity with the people of Palestine on the 75th commemoration of the catastrophe endured by Palestinians. This catastrophe wasn’t a once off event, it continues up till today. This day is marked by Palestinians every year, the anniversary of the founding state of the Apartheid Israelis.”

Ivan Botes, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations said: “Ladies and gentleman it’s not a struggle of religion, it’s about the struggle of self-determination. What you get there in Palestine is the oppression of Muslim Palestines and Christian Palestines by the State of Israel. So what we are calling for in South Africa is a broad consensus, that this struggle is equal it’s the mirror image, ladies and gentleman, of the type of struggle we prosecuted during the anti-Apartheid struggle.”

Freda Oosthuysen, the national treasurer of COSATU, South Africa largest trade union federation said: “We have nothing against the Israelis, no nothing.It’s the system that we hate. Listen to us, we don’t hate the Jewish people, no they are our brothers and sisters. We hate the system they use against Palestine that is what we hate. It’s the same like Apartheid, we did not hate the white people, no, it was the system they used against the black people, and here people it’s the same.”