Gift of Givers welcomes Palestinian refugees to South Africa as Dirco claims it is unaware of development

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said it is not aware of the arrival of Palestinian refugees in South Africa.

This as aid organisation Gift of Givers Foundation (GOTG) said senior government officials had ensured that the refugees had been allowed into the country, despite not having the proper documentation.

The foundation, in a statement, said that the refugees arrived on a flight to Johannesburg on Thursday morning, and received a warm welcome from Dirco’s director-general (DG) Zane Dangor and Minister Ronald Lamola. 

“This is in keeping with South Africa's policy of standing with Palestine by taking the terrorist, genocidal, apartheid state of Israel to the ICJ, ICC and garnering a boycott of that country,” said GOTG founder and chair Imtiaz Sooliman. 

South Africa instituted a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2023, accusing it of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in its military campaign in Gaza and claimed Israel's actions in Gaza are genocidal, aiming to destroy a substantial part of the Palestinian group, citing actions like mass killings and blocking aid.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, over 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war that began in October 2023. 

Sooliman said the Border Management Authority (BMA) acted in accordance with its mandate to prevent passengers without an exit stamp from disembarking. He said 'Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country'. 

“We are grateful that the Minister of DIRCO took the initiative to write to the Ministry of Home Affairs to waive this requirement, yet this could have been implemented by Home Affairs unilaterally on humanitarian grounds.”

However, Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said the department was not aware of the arrivals, adding that they would communicate once the BMA states its position on the matter. 

“They are the ones who know who enters the country and how,” he said. 

Sooliman insisted that the department was fully aware.

“DG Zane Dangor is fully aware. Chief Director, Middle East, Shannon Ebrahim, is fully aware,” he said. 

“We thank the South African government for coming to the assistance of the Palestinian people yet again. Gift of the Givers, with other civil society partners, will provide humanitarian assistance to the refugees. We extend particular gratitude to Nigel Branken, Zaheerah Bham-Ismail, Na'eem Jinnah, and Gift of the Givers teams who assisted with legal and medical care,” he said.

Sooliman told the SABC that this is the second plane, adding that the first batch arrived in October. 

“These people were displaced and they didn’t know where to go and had no contact numbers,” said Sooliman, who added that Gift of Givers intervened. 

“And the family members of the first group yesterday told us that the second plane was coming, and nobody knew about this plane."

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za