PSC calls for NPA to prosecute South Africans involved in Gaza genocide

Members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and other civil society organisations protested in solidarity with the people of Palestine outside the offices of the National Prosecuting Authority in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon.

The protest follows calls from the PSC and other organisations for the NPA  to prosecute 60 South Africans who served in the Israel Defense Force (IDF) without the “required permission in terms of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act”. 

Johannesburg resident, Aaron Bayhack has been identified as a member of an Israeli army sniper unit, that operates in Gaza. Last month, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), announced that it has launched an investigation into Bayhack. Hawks national spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo, told Elitsha that, “the investigation is still ongoing and we can’t disclose any details thereof.”

One of the protesters, Cape Town resident, Eliza James, said the solidarity of South Africans with Palestinians comes from the country’s history of oppression. “We were oppressed for a very long time, we fought for our freedom, we know what it means to be dehumanised, to be belittled. We know what it’s like. Even the late Tata Madiba said we won’t be truly free unless the Palestinians are free, having known what they have gone through for decades, for 75 plus years.”

Having taken a stance against Israel at an international court, James said it is ludicrous that the government allows one of its own citizens to go and fight for the IDF. “They are mercenaries, that’s what they are. How can we allow it? They must be identified, which we have done, there are 71. They must be named and shamed and they must be prosecuted immediately,” said James.

In her opinion, the South African government has the capacity to prosecute the “mercenaries”. “They must get rid of the mercenaries. Revoke their citizenship if necessary. Many have died, Gaza has been flattened. 16,500 children have been killed and we don’t count the ones under the rubble. That is not okay,” she added.

In a meeting between the PSC, Hawks and the NPA on Wednesday there was an agreement on the seriousness and urgency of the charges currently outstanding against the individuals and three institutions suspected of having facilitated recruitment to, and service in, the IDF, in violation of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, the Anti-terrorism Act, and the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

The parties agreed on the urgency for the Hawks and the NPA to reach a reasonably justified decision in the near future. 

In their joint statement issued on Thursday, the organisations said, “The PSC highlighted and raised concerns about the lack of progress, let alone arrest or prosecutions of South Africans serving in the IDF, despite them acting in defiance of the law, particularly the Foreign Military Assistance Act (FMAA). The PSC emphasized that the lack of action by the relevant law enforcement state institutions in the current context of a “plausible genocide” by Israel of the Palestinian people could be viewed as indirect complicity with Israel as international law also requires all states to act to prevent genocide.”

They said another meeting will take place involving national and provincial directors of prosecution and the authorised national representative of the Hawks as a matter of urgency. 

Usuf Chikte from the PSC, said they were outraged by the lack of decisions, the lack of prosecutions and the failure to arrest the culprits involved in this. “The unacceptably long delays that have taken place and the inaction on the side of the NPA is frustrating. We want to see results, because every delay means more deaths in Palestine and the impunity which the Zionist people operate with in South Africa, and the way they blatantly post and brag about the genocide [will continue].” 

Chikte said, following the meeting, a national official from the NPA committed to meeting with them and will let them know when by Friday.