Israeli Apartheid Week in Cape Town culminated with a protest outside the Puma brand shop in Access Park Kenilworth on Saturday as part of the #BoycottPuma campaign.
A group of people from the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Coalition (BDS) gathered outside the shop to protest against the brand.
Puma is a sponsor of the Israeli Football Association (IFA) which governs teams on Palestinian land, the group said.
Puma took an apolitical stance and said it did not support any political direction or governments but rather universal equality.
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an international week of action that has taken place for the past 16 years in more than 200 universities and cities around the world.
It aims to raise public awareness about Israel’s racial discrimination against the Palestinian people.
Various lectures and rallies took place around the world this this week. Former Miss Universe and Iraqi-American model Sarah Idan spoke at various engagements in the South Africa. Idan touched down in the Mother City on Tuesday where she spoke on human rights, freedom of speech, mental health and women’s empowerment issue at various invents including UCT.Idan came under fire when she expressed her support for Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane’s participation in the Miss Universe pageant in Israel in December.
Yesterday, a member of the BDS group, Usuf Chikte said it wanted people to boycott Puma.
“The IFA is complicit in apartheid.
“Palestinians cannot enter settlements to watch IFA games, are denied freedom of movement and are forced to carry a racist dompas.
“The IFA ignores Israeli fan clubs who commit racist hate crimes against Palestinian players,” he said.
Judith Favish, also part of the BDS group, said they wanted to shine a light on a company that is “very involved in supporting apartheid Israel”.
“By protesting here, we want to get people to think about what they can do to stop normalising relationships with Israel.
“We want to put pressure on Israel to work towards better solutions for the Palestinians.
“This will strengthen the boycott of companies that have relations with Israel to put pressure on the Israeli state ,” she said.
Abraham Agulhas said they cannot allow apartheid Israel to continue with atrocities against the Palestinian people.
“If you look at the war going on, the whole of the west is supporting the Ukrainians. That’s not wrong, but there is a contradiction. Why are they not crying out for the people in Palestine? As people of South Africa, we need to stand up against it.”
Agulhas said Puma’s financial support towards Israel was symbolic of them having a hand in apartheid.
“We want them to withdraw their support from apartheid Israel,” he said.
For the past three months,
Clover workers are striking for a myriad of reasons, including the company’s involvement with the Israeli company Central Bottling Company which acquired Clover through the Milco SA consortium in 2019.