The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa formally announced the move this week
- Many South Africans emphathise with Palestinians due to their struggle with apartheid
- As part of the process the South African embassy in Tel Aviv will be downgraded to a liason office
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The South African government is to downgrade diplomatic relations with Israel, the countrys President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.
Last year, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) passed a resolution calling for South Africas Embassy in Tel Aviv to be downgraded, following what it described as ‘continued Israeli violations of the rights of Palestinians.’
In implementing this conference resolution, we are mindful of South Africas responsibility to continue engaging with all parties to the conflict to see where we would be able to provide assistance, Ramaphosa told the South African parliament late Thursday.
He informed the parliament the International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was working on the process of implementing the decision to downgrade diplomatic relations.
The announcement this week coincideds with a move by the United States to close its Palestinian consulate and aborb its workings into the embassy for Israel.
Many South Africans emphathise with Palestinians due to their own past struggle with the apartheid regime.
It is not only the government and in particular the ANC that wants dioplomatic relations with Israel downgraded. A similar call was made in September last year by the newly-elected president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Zingiswa Losi.
The first woman to lead the countrys largest trade federation, Losi made the call at the organisations 13th National Congress in Johannesburg on 20 September. She praised the government for withdrawing its ambassador from Israel indefinitely, but called on the ANC-led government to brign about the immediate and unconditional downgrade of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv to a liaison office.
