Image: Screen grab of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s interview with France 24
Faizel Patel – 20/05/2021
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the situation in Gaza is most worrying as South Africans and the world witnesses images and reports of Palestinians being prevented from moving around, their homes being destroyed, and Israeli occupation forces manhandling people.
Ramaphosa was speaking to France 24 on Wednesday during his trip to the country for the financing of African Economies Summit.
The president says what is happening to Palestinians brings back terrible memories of South Africa’s own history under apartheid.
“When we see those images, we can’t but side with the Palestinians. Our support as a country for the Palestinians is based on principle. Palestinians want their own self-determination rights, they want their own state, they want to be able to run their own affairs and have freedom and not have to be restricted to move around.”
Ramaphosa says the only way to deal with the current violence in Gaza is for both the Israeli’s and Palestinians to negotiate, adding that while the problem may seem intractable and does not have a solution, South Africa had late president Nelson Mandela to fight for freedom.
Interviewer: “But there’s no Nelson Mandela over there.” Ramaphosa: “But even if there isn’t, you need leaders on both sides. The way they’ve been carrying on, the way they’ve been denying the Palestinians their rights, the way they’ve been bombing the area, the way they’ve been unleashing terror, one could quite easily characterize it as being an apartheid type of state.”
Ramaphosa says the situation in Gaza has become a “tinderbox”
“A tinderbox to a point where those who are living under oppression, those whose rights are being violated, feel that they have the right to defend themselves and defending themselves means that they also have to be offensive.”
Ramaphosa says South Africa was “cast in the same mold” when people were fighting against apartheid.
“When the ANC took up arms to fight against apartheid, we said that that is justifiable because you’re fighting against an authority which was using both the law, which was using absolute terror against people who were fighting for their own rights.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Health-Gaza has confirmed that 227 Palestinians have so far been killed, including 64 children, 38 women, and 17 elderly people while 1,620 others wounded due the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip.
Listen to the interview with President Cyril Ramaphosa on France 24
The situation in Gaza is most worrying. As South Africans we are concerned because what we have seen brings back terrible memories of our own history under apartheid. We side with the Palestinians & our support is based on principle of protecting the right to self-determination. pic.twitter.com/Ygk9M61W1B
— Cyril Ramaphosa ???????? #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) May 19, 2021
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