The ANC Youth League Western Cape (ANCYL) has condemned the City of Cape Town refusal to grant it permission to protest on Mandela Day on Friday. Given this, the ANCYL Western Cape has postponed it’s planned protest, until next week where they will gather in protest outside the South African Zionist Federation.

However, given the recent ground invasion by the Israeli forces into the Palestinian Gaza Strip as well as it being Nelson Mandela Day, party members will be holding a peaceful placard demonstration for 67 minutes outside of parliament at 14:30pm on Friday for Mandela Day.

“Our main call will be to register our growing frustration as young people that our South African government has not heeded the ANC Youth League’s call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from South Africa,” said Western Cape convenor Muhammad Khalid Sayed.

Sayed called upon government and politicians “to stay true” to the ANC’s policies adopted at Mangaung, Polokwane and various other ANC conferences in support of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli Apartheid.

“We continue to call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from South Africa, a decision which we will readily support our government in taking – together with virtually the entirety of South African civil society,” he said.

“Tata Mandela spoke out strongly in support of Palestine, and famously said that, “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. We will celebrate Mandela Day in the same spirit of unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine that Tata Mandela lived by.” VOC