President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa has a strong case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday.
The country has taken the Israeli government to the court in The Hague for possible investigation of a case of genocide in Gaza.
This follows the killing of what Hamas says is over 25 000 Palestinians by the Israeli government in the Middle East conflict.
Speaking in Mpumalanga during a visit to the Kingdom Houses of Amandebele yesterday, Ramaphosa said Justice Minister Ronald Lamola will present the country’s case to the ICJ.
“Our legal team is a high-level team comprised of leading legal minds…we also (have) international lawyers based in the UK (United Kingdom) largely, including Professor John Dugard, who is a legal eagle par excellence, who is also well versed and well experienced with matters that have to do with the International Court of Justice. We are going to be arguing our case and the Minister of Justice will do the opening statement at the court and thereafter, our legal team will argue our case.”
“And our case is simple and straightforward, it is about taking steps, and we have taken the steps to approach the ICJ to make an intervention to try and stop the genocide is happening in Palestine, in Gaza especially. And where we felt very strongly, apart from pledging our solidarity with the people of Palestine, it is a matter of human and general justice that the genocide that is unfolding there should be stopped.”
“As South Africans, we went through a very bitter struggle when we struggled against apartheid and in Israel, we see similar features of what we struggled against and we see a horrific genocide being perpetuated against the people of Palestine and we have had no choice but to make this intervention…”
Ramaphosa elaborates in the video below:
“Robust, principled case”
Meanwhile, Lamola asserts that South Africa is presenting a robust and principled case in the ICJ against Israel.
Lamola says it is important to act now.
“The South African legal team will be requesting from the ICJ to issue an injunction that will enable them to stop the state of Israel to continue with the genocide, and the substantive matters will then be dealt with at a later stage. The urgent one is to stop the genocide, which is a principled position; and it’s also to ensure that we restore the respect for the rule of law…”
“We are confident that in terms of substance, and also in terms of the technicalities related to the court, the country has got a good leg to stand on, and a case to take to the court.”
Lamola elaborates in the report below:
