Cape Town - Various organisations and political parties have expressed support for the Western Cape High Court order, which allows for 16 000 protesters to gather outside GrandWest casino before US singer Pharrell Williams’s concert on Monday.
After a lengthy battle, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in South Africa came out victorious when the high court ruled in favour of the gathering outside the concert on Monday.
The BDS campaign took the City of Cape Town to court after it only allowed 150 people to picket outside the casino.
Williams has been criticised by pro-Palestinian groups for being in partnership with Woolworths stores, which has refused to stop buying Israeli products and services.
The ANC has pledged its support for the BDS campaign and protest.
“The campaign and protest seeks to impress on international artist Pharrell Williams the collective responsibility we all have in doing our part to end the cycle of violence perpetuated by the Israeli authorities on the Palestinian people,” the ANC read.
“We have a duty as South Africans to abide by our constitution, to heed our obligations under international law, and our stated foreign policy which is specific about the kind of trade partners we seek, so we expect anyone who loves our country and what it stands for, as Williams does, not to endorse or support, directly or indirectly, the companies that are directly linked to settlements, checkpoints and the ‘separation wall’ in the occupied Palestinian territories as these are all deemed illegal under international law”.
The Congress of South African Students also came out in support, writing an open letter to Williams.
“You (Williams) have received, including from us (the largest South African school learner organisation), numerous complaints against your collaboration with Woolworths – a company arrogantly trading with apartheid Israel, a regime that kills Palestinian children.
“Being in business does not mean or give you reason to be heartless, and to support killers for the sake of having money in your pocket.
“Woolworths is an apartheid-Israel supporter. By trading with apartheid Israel, Woolworths is raising their capital so that apartheid Israel can continue to buy weapons of mass destruction to threaten, harass and kill even more Palestinians, including many Palestinian children, every day,” the open letter read.
The Young Communist League of South Africa also welcomed the court ruling.
The BDS campaign said: “This is a good day for the BDS movement, Palestine solidarity and for the hard-won freedoms that our fathers and mothers fought for.
“Freedom of expression, the right to assembly and the right to protest are rights of us South Africans that Woolworths, GrandWest Casino, the City of Cape Town and Pharrell Williams cannot play with.”
Cape Argus