The DA’s posture on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has left the official opposition jittery ahead of the May 29 polls, but party leaders have put up a brave face, saying any organisation using the conflict as political football would be mischievous.
At stake is the sizeable Muslim community vote, largely in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, where opinion polls indicate that the DA could lose electoral support.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the DA is the third-biggest party in the provincial legislature on the back of amassing significant electoral support from the Muslim and Indian communities in Durban and surrounding areas.
According to the Statistics SA census recent results, people of Indian descent account for 2.7% of the population in the country, with the highest number living in eThekwini metro.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said of the party’s stance on Israel-Palestine: “The Democratic Alliance stands in solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who see a two-state solution. It stands against radicalism and violence. We reject any sentiment that seeks to annihilate either Israel or Palestine.
“We embrace rationality based peaceful co-existence for both a secure Israel and a free Palestinian state. We embrace the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to statehood and sovereignty.”
Speaking to Sunday World, the DA’s parliamentary chief whip, Siviwe Gwarube, said it would be unfortunate for political parties to use the Middle East conflict to garner votes. “I think it would be deeply problematic if the election campaigns descend upon that kind of politics.”
In contrast, the governing ANC is not having sleepless nights over the matter. KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said the party had, historically, always stood on the side of the downtrodden and that choosing Palestine had nothing to do with garnering electoral support.
“If our genuine and noble actions win the hearts of the people, we will gladly accept them,” said Mndebele.
The DA has often intensified its election campaigns in predominantly Muslim or Indian areas heading into elections, but if the sentiments expressed by various Muslim formations are anything to go by, the blue party might go into the elections on the back foot.
So important is the Indian and Muslim vote in KwaZulu-Natal for the DA that in the days leading up to the 2021 municipal elections, it went on the offensive, saying the atrocities that took place in the Indian township of Phoenix were the result of people defending their properties against looters.
The DA launched a campaign insisting that the July 2021 unrest, where 36 black people were apparently killed by vigilante groups in the area, had nothing to do with race.
The controversial posters that were erected in Phoenix read: “The ANC called you racists, the DA calls you heroes.” The party went on to score a landslide victory in almost all the wards in Phoenix and other surrounding areas. Even the party’s provincial manifesto was launched in Verulam, a predominantly Indian residential area.
Imraan Ishaaq of the KwaZulu-Natal Palestine Solidarity Network explained that the DA had shot itself in the foot.
“Although we do not coerce our members to choose or vote for any political party, it’s common knowledge that the DA has been a major benefactor in terms of votes from the Indian and Muslim communities.
“The DA lost an opportunity by refusing to support the struggle of the Palestinian people,” he said.
He, however, said that the Middle East was unlikely to benefit the governing ANC because the Muslim community largely viewed the liberation movement with scepticism.
Amid Israel’s ongoing deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has left at least 32 552 people dead and family life destroyed, the DA said it advocated for a two-state solution as opposed to calling Israel an aggressor.
On the other hand, the governing ANC openly declared Israel an apartheid state and aggressively condemned its occupation of Palestinian territory.
After the outbreak of the current war when Israel started an indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip after the governing Hamas killed about 1 200 Israelis and took others hostage, the South African government took Israel to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes and violations of the Genocide Convention.
This was viewed in some quarters as a ploy to leverage the Muslim vote in South Africa.
On Thursday the International Court of Justice issued an order addressing the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, stating that living conditions for Palestinians have worsened since January 26, 2024, with famine now setting in.
