The South African Zionist Federation on Monday accused senior South African government ministers of deflecting responsibility for recurring xenophobic violence by suggesting, without evidence, that Israel or other foreign actors may be involved in anti-immigrant unrest.
In a statement, SAZF National Chairman Craig Pantanowitz said recent comments by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola sought to shift attention away from longstanding domestic problems.
According to Pantanowitz, the Sunday Times, South Africa’s biggest Sunday newspaper, reported over the weekend that Kubayi implied Israeli involvement in recent anti-immigrant marches, although she offered no evidence to support the allegation.
He noted that Lamola, responding in May to questions about what he described as a hostile narrative against South Africa, referred to unnamed “state and non-state actors” and linked them to South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“Two senior ministers, the same insinuation, and between them not a shred of proof,” Pantanowitz said.
‘Conspiracy theory’
Pantanowitz argued that such claims distract from the government’s failure to address domestic unrest.
“When senior members of cabinet reach for a hidden foreign hand rather than account for a failure at home, and do so months before a local election in which immigration is being openly exploited, it stops looking like a careless remark and starts looking like a habit,” he said.
Pantanowitz said Kubayi herself had acknowledged that elements of the recent anti-immigrant mobilization were linked to local political campaigning and ambitions ahead of municipal elections.
“Every one of those drivers is domestic. None of them is foreign,” he said.
The SAZF chairman also pointed to South Africa’s long history of xenophobic violence, noting that deadly attacks occurred in 2008, 2015 and 2019—years before Pretoria filed its ICJ case against Israel.
“The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights recognizes xenophobia as a longstanding South African problem,” he said. “It cannot have been caused by a court case filed 15 years after the first bodies were counted.”
Pantanowitz said migrants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Mozambique had been driven from their homes and businesses in the latest unrest, prompting formal diplomatic protests from several African governments.
“The victims are real and close at hand,” he said. “A conspiracy theory protects none of them.”
Calling on the South African justice minister to either substantiate or withdraw her remarks, Pantanowitz said: “If she has evidence of foreign state involvement in these marches, she must produce it or place it before the appropriate authorities. If she does not, she must withdraw the insinuation. There is no third path that is truthful.”
“Deflection is the easy road,” he added. “It buys the government time. It buys the victims nothing.”
The SAZF represents South Africa’s Jewish community on Israel-related issues and works to strengthen ties between South Africa and Israel through advocacy, education and community engagement.
