Kenneth Mokgatlhe
While it is every sports lover’s desire that politics should have no place in sports, it is inevitable that big sports events will be exploited by politicians, whether implicitly or explicitly to further their political agendas.
Politics divides people; sport, on the other hand, provides opportunities to bring nations and people together. We should condemn those who seek to abuse sports as a way of furthering their own narrow political interests.
South Africa’s biggest and oldest football club, Orlando Pirates, has chosen to defy demands from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) lobby to ditch the pre-season tour with Maccabi Tel Aviv in order to “sympathise and show solidarity with the people of Palestine”. For this, they should be applauded.
Pirates should never in the first place have been intimidated and coerced into doing something that would amount to anti-sportsmanship. Their decision to stay out of politics and rather use sports as a tool to unite people is commendable.
By contrast, in a very shocking move earlier this year, the South African rugby union (Saru) was “forced” into withdrawing its invitation to Israeli rugby team Tel Aviv Heats to participate with six South African and four international teams in the Mzansi Challenge. Saru was pressured by boycott calls from BDS with the help of the ANC, and chose to cave in.
According to the South African favourite team, the Buccaneers as widely known, there is no cultural boycott or boycott of any form by either the South African government, Fifa, or the host country upon which the club could base its refusal to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv. As its statement reads, “Heeding a call from any other body would create a conflict within Orlando Pirates that would undermine the club’s values and history irreparably”.
It is hypocritical of the ANC to blame Orlando Pirates for playing with another team when the South African government itself does not have a clear policy stance on cultural boycotts of Israel.
As they have taken a decision to downgrade its embassy from Israel through Parliament, the same approach should be followed to formalise their boycott mission.
Over the last few weeks, South Africa was hailed for directly confronting international issues affecting the entire world such as Russia and Ukraine conflict. Why then take a different approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict? Egypt has been involved for many decades in efforts to bring the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict to an end.
They remain committed to helping bring about peace and stability for both Israeli and Palestinians.
South Africa under the ANC has been convinced by organisations that materially benefit from this conflict such as BDS because the end of the conflict means that their pockets will run dry.
For this reason, they have to perpetuate the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the conflict. It is critical that South Africa conduct its own investigations rather than depending on subjective sources whose political intentions are well known.
In 2008 I visited several villages outside Ramallah where we were allowed to see the livelihoods of poor Palestinians and their experiences. They do not have the most basic needs such as water, housing, schools, and food. Their stories are untold, they explained that the people who go around the world claiming to be their leaders are not doing anything for them. It was the United Nations (UN) that was primarily helping and sometimes the Israel Defence Force (IDF) stepped in to help where medicine, food, or water might be needed.
The late David Sibeko of the PAC and the ANC’s Oliver Tambo played a crucial role in mobilising international support through world bodies such as the UN to convince world leaders about the appalling and abusive status quo under the apartheid system.
In the end, through such efforts South Africa’s apartheid system was declared a crime against humanity in the late 1970s. It is therefore within the BDS to take the same route if they feel that they want to be listened to; they should go and present their case before the UN.
Rather than taking advantage of a sad situation by making it a cash cow, BDS should surely be making it part of its mission that the people on whose behalf they claim to be acting have water and are able to access education and primary medical care. Besides confusing people and organisations and fostering division in South Africa, however, what in fact is the BDS doing to improve the lives and livelihoods of the Palestinians?
Mokgatlhe is a thought leader and freelance reporter