Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General:
Members of Parliament representing parties in South Africa’s Government of National Unity have undertaken a secret visit to Israel.
The South African MPs evidently received a warmer reception than their counterparts in the UK governing party, who were forced to abandon a fact-finding mission when they were summarily deported by Israel last week.
Details of the South African visit – such as who paid, who the delegation has met, its political objectives, whether the South African government or Parliament were informed, and the date of its return – are unknown as there has clearly been a concerted effort to avoid publicity.
A member of the delegation, the Patriotic Alliance’s Ashley Sauls, however, couldn’t resist letting the cat out the bag by posting a photograph of his arrival in Tel Aviv last Friday on Facebook, followed by a rambling video post the next day, titled “ISREAL FACT FINDING DAY ONE” (sic).
Other members of what appears to be a Christian Zionist-leaning delegation are believed to include Nicholas Myburgh MP and Bridget Masango MP (both DA) and Millicent Mathopa MP (from the PA).
Myburgh serves as a member of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, while Masango chairs the Portfolio Committee on Social Development.
Myburgh and Sauls have previously served as Mayors of Swellendam and Beaufort West, respectively.
While South Africa’s government has been consistently condemnatory of the genocide Israel is carrying out in Gaza, launching a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the DA and PA – both of which are represented in the national Cabinet – have voiced support for Israel.
The delegation of MPs to Israel follows recent highly publicized visits by the DA and its civil society friends, Afriforum and Solidariteit, to the United States.
Those misinformation-peddling visits are now widely viewed as having “sealed the deal” in the Trump administration’s mind, already angry about South Africa’s attitude toward its friend, Israel, that South Africa should be punished.
South Africa is a Constitutional Democracy with democratically elected parliamentarians and a Cabinet that includes a Minister of International Relations.
Yet certain members of the parliament, who are part of the Government of National Unity, are confused about whether they are members of the government or opposition. They feel free to contradict their own government
At a time of extreme geo-political and economic turbulence, members of the government should know that the constituency they should serve is all the people of South Africa, not their party constituencies.
The DA and PA must tell South Africans what their MPs are doing in Israel, who they have met, what they told them about South Africa, who they have claimed to represent, and who paid for the trip.
GOOD Civic Education: The party promotes civic education to encourage informed citizenship.
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