It all began in the dark days of apartheid. Recognizing its obligations to the large Jewish community living in South Africa, Israel condemned the apartheid regime and maintained diplomatic, military and trade relations with the South African government, even as it imposed trade and cultural sanctions from 1987 until the end of apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC), which fought so hard to end apartheid, did not consider Israel a heartfelt friend and supported the Palestinian cause.
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, one of the first leaders he met was his close friend and confidant, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). During a visit to Israel in 1999, Mandela became a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Israel made efforts to repair relations, particularly after the election of the ANC government in 1994, but this had little effect, although bilateral trade remained strong for many years. In 2012, bilateral trade peaked at $1.19 billion, but as the ANC’s anti-Israel policies began to harden, trade began to decline.
In 2015, then-ANC leader and South African president Jacob Zuma hosted a Hamas delegation that included Khaled Machar. By the time South Africa downgraded its embassy in Tel Aviv to a liaison office in 2019, bilateral trade was just $407.7 million. By 2023, that figure had fallen to about $350 million.
The ANC ruled South Africa for 30 years until it lost its majority in the general elections in May 2024. As part of the deal to put together the governing coalition, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has repeatedly denounced Israel as an apartheid state (and has never visited the country), was re-elected. Since then, the ANC-led coalition has maintained a staunch opposition to Israel, despite its coalition partners taking a much softer stance toward the Jewish state of Israel.
When ANC-led South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January for alleged genocide in Gaza, the right-wing Democratic Alliance (DA), then the ANC’s biggest rival, opposed the move. The right-wing populist Patriotic Alliance (PA) called the move a “joke.” Both the DA and PA are now in a coalition government, as is the conservative Zulu-backed Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which has notably avoided condemning Israel. The question arises as to whether the views of its coalition partners will modify the ANC’s vehement anti-Israel stance in the future, and in particular whether South Africa will continue its legal war against Israel at the ICJ. The answer to this question may be lost in the fog of rumours and possibly unproven accusations surrounding the ANC’s approach to the ICJ.
The fact is that just before South Africa was to accuse Israel at the International Court of Justice of committing genocide in Gaza, the ruling South African party (ANC), known for its huge, long-standing debts, suddenly announced that its financial problems had been resolved, without any information being given as to how this was achieved.
In May, a group of 160 lawyers from 10 countries wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asking that ANC members be investigated under the Magnitsky Act for engaging in “significant corrupt activities, including bribery.” Signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, the act allows the U.S. government to impose sanctions on foreign government officials around the world who are involved in human rights violations or significant corruption.
The lawyers’ letter alleges that ANC leaders agreed to take Israel to the International Court of Justice for committing genocide in Gaza in exchange for bribes from Iran to cover the ANC’s debts.
The letter revealed a series of events that began in October 2023, shortly after the outbreak of war. South Africa’s then foreign minister Naledi Pandor traveled to Iran to meet with the Iranian president. In December, South Africa filed a complaint against Israel with the International Court of Justice. In January, despite widely reported severe financial difficulties within the ANC, the party surprisingly announced that it was financially stable.
“This change in economic fortunes coincides with the South African government’s filing of a complaint with the International Court of Justice. This series of events strongly suggests that the ANC party’s financial difficulties were resolved by Iran as a reward for South Africa’s anti-Israel activism,” the lawyers wrote. Furthermore, the letter continued, the ANC leadership engaged in the “corrupt practice of accepting bribes from Iran in return for acting as Iran’s diplomatic agent against Israel.”
The lawyers who signed the letter are calling on the White House, the Attorney General and the US Congress to investigate how the ANC mysteriously repaid its debts, what deals were made with Iran and why the ANC government is so intent on supporting Hamas.
If this allegation is ultimately proven, it may explain why the South African government continues to adhere to the ANC’s strict anti-Israel line, despite the presence of other parties in the coalition government who are known to oppose the ANC on this point. If the ANC did in fact receive the Iranian debt repayments, it would be obliged to honour them. The ANC denies all corruption allegations.
Former Israeli Ambassador to South Africa’s thoughts on bilateral relations
Arthur Lenk, a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, believes that relations between Israel and South Africa will remain tense as long as the Gaza conflict and The Hague events continue. He says that an anti-Israel stance fits into the broader foreign policy of the ANC, which has always aligned, to varying degrees, with anti-Western ideals.
Ahead of the recent elections, Lenk noted that the ANC government viewed the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) organisation as an important international grouping, which led South Africa to deepen its ties with China and informally support Russia in its war with Ukraine by abstaining from voting against Russia at the UN.
As for the ANC’s obsession with Israel, Lenk said it was “cold and calculated. They literally represent Hamas, but it serves a purpose. It is in line with the ANC’s foreign policy.”
President Ramaphosa has formed what he calls a “Government of National Unity” and given the Islamist Al-Jamaa party a deputy ministerial post, a clear sign that he will continue to support the Palestinians over Israel, despite opposition from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This perception was reinforced by the appointment of former Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Lamola, a lawyer, led South Africa’s opening argument in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
The conflict between South Africa and Israel seems destined to continue for a little longer.
The author is Eurasia Review’s Middle East correspondent. His latest book is “Trump and the Holy Land: 2016-2020.” You can follow him at a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com.
