Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
Supplied/GCIS
The South African government expressed concern over the US‘s involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict,urging dialogue and peaceful resolution through the United Nations. Local political leaders criticised the role of global superpowers,highlighting potential global economic impacts,such as rising oil prices and supply chain disruptions,due to the escalating tensions. Many South African political figures,including Julius Malema,reaffirmed their support for Palestine,condemning Israel’s actions and the US‘s intervention as exacerbating instability in the Middle East.The South African government says it has “noted with a great deal of anxiety” the entry of the United States into the Israel-Iran war.
The Presidency issued the statement on Sunday just hours after US President Donald Trump said the country had struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday night.
He said the facilities at Fordow,Natanz and Isfahan were “completely and totally obliterated” and warned of further attacks if Tehran refused to “make peace”.
“It was South Africa’s sincerest hope that President Donald Trump would use his influence and that of the US government to prevail on the parties to pursue a dialogue path in resolving their issues of dispute,” Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement.
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“South Africa calls on the United States,Israel and Iran to give the United Nations the opportunity and space to lead on the peaceful resolution of the matters of dispute,including the inspection and verification of Iran’s status of uranium enrichment,as well as its broader nuclear capacity.”
Iran’s foreign minister,Abbas Araghchi,said the bombing was “outrageous and will have everlasting consequences”.
The US attacks come just over a week after Israel launched missiles at Iran and Tehran hit back by striking targets in Israel.
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The geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have sparked concerns from political leaders and parties in South Africa.
Local leaders News24 spoke to on Sunday criticised the roles of global superpowers in the escalation of the violence.
Songezo Zibi,leader of Rise Mzansi and chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts,said:
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu are an extremely dangerous combination. One is a warmonger; one is a detached,power-hungry egotist. And the two of them have no regard for the careful balance that you have to keep geopolitically to keep the world stable.
Zibi believes Trump and Netanyahu will destabilise the world and cause widespread violence and instability in the Middle East.
“This will have a terrible effect on countries that rely on energy sources from the Middle East like ourselves,but also,just commodity prices.”
He said South Africans should be concerned about developments in the Middle East because they have local effects,such as on the exchange rate and the price of oil.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz,critical for shipping into the Suez Canal,will ultimately lead to global supply chain disruptions.
“You will get all sorts of ripple effects that are going to affect us and African countries in the main.”
He said the US had become one of the most unstable countries in the world under the Trump administration.
The world can expect more widespread protests,added Zibi.
PAC leader and Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso said his party has long been calling for the people of Palestine to be free.
“Everything that is happening in Iran has something to do with how Palestinians are being treated by Israel. I also believe that without America there’s no Israel.”
Israel should be condemned for killing innocent women and children in Gaza,he said.
“As long as Palestine is not free,the Middle East will never experience or achieve everlasting peace. We are also happy that Iran is defending itself.”
Nyhontso said the US’ decision to strike Iran’s key nuclear facilities was not surprising.
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He added:
This is what they did with Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein. They bombed the countries and eventually they bombed the leaders.
He said the US tended to “bully” other sovereign states.
GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron also expressed concern over the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.
Herron said,“The intervention by the United States,by reportedly bombing ‘nuclear sites’ in Iran overnight,has breached international law and contributed indefensibly to that escalation.
“If the United States was to make any intervention,it had a duty,as a world superpower,to attempt to end the conflict,not to join in on it. Israel’s attack on Iran,which ran parallel with the continuing genocidal attacks on Gaza,has largely been condoned or pardoned by world leaders who share that duty of pursuing justice and peace.”
Herron said the decimation of Gaza should not be ignored,and neither should Israel’s pre-emptive attack on Iran.
“State leaders – both Western world and emerging nations – have a duty to end these conflicts,” he added.
READ | ‘Let Israel have a taste of devastation it has perpetrated in Gaza,’ says Malema
Earlier on Sunday,News24 reported that EFF leader Julius Malema,speaking at the funeral service of seven EFF supporters who died in a tragic bus accident in KwaZulu-Natal,reaffirmed his party’s unwavering support for Iran and the people of Palestine.
He said,“We stand in full solidarity with Iran,a country under siege from Western imperialism for choosing independence. We reject the bullying of this nation by the United States,Israel and its allies,and we stand by their right to defend themselves by any means necessary.
“Let Israel finally have a taste of the devastation and violence it has perpetrated in Gaza.”
Malema told mourners that the pain of South African children is connected to the pain of children in Palestine,where bombs are dropped on homes,hospitals and schools.
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“The screams of mothers in Gaza echo the cries we hear here. We say to the Israeli apartheid regime,the world is watching,and history will judge you harshly.”
He said the EFF stood firmly with the people of Palestine and would never be neutral in the face of genocide.
“We are anti-imperialists because we understand that our struggle for freedom is bound to the struggle of all oppressed people across the world,” added Malema.
The DA and ANC were also asked for their reaction but had not responded at the time of publication. Their responses will be added once received.
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