EFF calls on Mogoeng Mogoeng to 'repent' and retract Israel comments

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. File photo: ANA/Jacques Naude

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. File photo: ANA/Jacques Naude

Published Jun 26, 2020

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Johannesburg - The EFF has joined calls condemning remarks made by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, which seemed to show support for the government of Israel.

Chief Justice Mogoeng has been widely criticised for his comments during a webinar hosted by the Jerusalem Post and South Africa's chief rabbi Warren Goldstein.

The chief justice is believed to have said the country was missing out on an opportunity to have a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestine issue.

He has been criticised by the ANC and other human rights groups who show solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The EFF took issue with Chief Justice Mogoeng being quoted as saying that South Africa was condemning Israel but had welcomed views from former colonisers.

The EFF said this was not true and called for unity in the campaign which supports the isolation and boycotting of Israel goods and services.

"We must unite in condemnation of the chief justice's questioning of this campaign on the basis that African people have not done the same to colonisers. This is utterly wrong and historical. Anyone who has paid attention to how colonisation and apartheid were defeated would know that it was through international solidarity-based, among other things, on boycotts, disinvestments and sanctions," the party said in a statement on Friday.

"There would have never been a Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng presiding over a democratic judiciary in South Africa if it were not for boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions against apartheid South Africa."

The EFF said Chief Justice Mogoeng should retract his statements.

"We call on the chief justice to repent from contradiction this call. We call on him to retract his position and subdue himself to the collective wisdom and call by the oppressed people of Palestine," the EFF said.

Human rights organisation South African BDS Coalition also condemned the chief justice's comments and has called on the Judicial Service Commission to investigate Mogoeng.

"The South African BDS Coalition is deeply dismayed by the outrageous support for the apartheid Israeli state expressed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. The South African BDS Coalition finds it totally inappropriate for the person serving as the highest member of the judiciary in our country to use his religious views to express support for the apartheid state of Israel," the organisation said.

"We call on the Judicial Services Commission to investigate the chief justice’s statements with the possibility of censuring him for breaching the official code of conduct by appearing in public in his capacity as chief justice and making comments that are in contradiction with South African foreign policy and the spirit of our Constitution," BDS said. 

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