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Eastern Cape premier condemns Israel’s offer
Israel’s offer to assist the Eastern Cape with water, healthcare, and agriculture expertise on Friday, 23 January, was flatly condemned by provincial Premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane as soon as he heard about it.
Rather than being grateful for an offer of unconditional help from visiting ambassador David Saranga in areas where the Eastern Cape is battling, Mabuyane has accused Israeli embassy officials and AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo of breaching diplomatic protocol.
Saranga, who is familiar with the AbaThembu king, who recently visited Israel, met him and about 50 traditional leaders to make the offer. When asked what he wanted in return, he said, “The only thing we need is your friendship.”
The four-day visit to the Eastern Cape included meetings with hospital management; traditional leaders; development organisations; and local business figures, and focused on water access, healthcare support, and agricultural development.
“My trip was to find ways for cooperation,” Saranga told the SA Jewish Report. “The king saw what Israel can offer. The question then became how we turn that into something practical.”
Mabuyane claimed the engagements were unauthorised and undermined South Africa’s constitutional order. In a statement, he said that he had learned “with shock and concern” of reports that Israeli officials had visited provincial institutions, including hospitals and Walter Sisulu University, without the knowledge or consent of the Eastern Cape government.
“The conduct of foreign diplomatic missions engaging provincial institutions outside established diplomatic channels constitutes a clear breach of diplomatic protocol,” Mabuyane said, adding that authority over foreign relations rests with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
This dispute draws attention to the Eastern Cape’s deep and long-standing service delivery crisis. The province continues to struggle with water shortages, deteriorating infrastructure, and severe pressure on its healthcare system, particularly in rural areas.
Athol Trollip, ActionSA’s Eastern Cape chairperson, said the province’s water situation was critical. “We are a water-scarce province and our infrastructure maintenance is woeful,” Trollip said. “We waste more than 40% of potable water, and wastewater treatment is disastrous, with raw untreated sewerage discharged into most of our water courses.”
It was for this reason that the king visited Israel, met leaders, and toured institutions specialising in healthcare, water management, and agriculture.
While in the Eastern Cape, Saranga met senior management at Mthatha General Hospital and Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital. The visits followed the king’s meeting with the director of Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s largest hospital. “They were to give us a list of what they really need,” Saranga said. “After that, we would organise a Zoom meeting with the hospital director in Israel and see how we could move forward.”
Saranga said that Israel regularly hosts medical students and healthcare professionals from around the world, often supported by its foreign ministry, but acknowledged that such exchanges require formal agreements between governments. “This is where politics sometimes blocks things that could really help people,” he said.
Water access formed a central part of the visit. Saranga was accompanied by Innovation: Africa, a non-profit organisation that installs solar-powered water and energy systems in remote African villages and is already active in other parts of South Africa. The organisation is exploring potential projects in the Eastern Cape.
A key engagement was a gathering of more than 50 traditional leaders convened by King Dalindyebo. Saranga said water shortages dominated the discussion. “One of the leaders asked me why Israel was coming to one of the poorest provinces in South Africa,” Saranga said. “I told him, ‘We aren’t coming here to make money.’”
Mabuyane claimed the AbaThembu king had no mandate to engage in matters involving foreign assistance or the management of public institutions. He also directed the member of the Executive Council for Health to investigate reports that departmental health officials had accepted donations without following proper procedures.
The Israeli embassy in South Africa rejected claims that it acted outside diplomatic norms. The embassy said it operated in accordance with international conventions and engaged with a wide range of stakeholders as part of standard diplomatic practice.
The embassy said its outreach focused on humanitarian cooperation and development, and that engagements with provincial institutions and traditional leaders were conducted transparently and in good faith.
Trollip said the Eastern Cape could benefit significantly from Israeli expertise, particularly in water management and agriculture. “As a water-scarce and primarily agriculture-orientated province, we could learn a lot from Israel with regard to innovative irrigation technologies, crop and pasture production, soil conservation, and eco-tourism,” he said.
He said it was regrettable that national government policy limited such engagement. “We would be better off building international relations that benefit our economy and service delivery,” Trollip said.
For Saranga, the visit was framed as a humanitarian, people-centred initiative. “When you talk about water, healthcare, agriculture, these aren’t political issues,” he said. “These are human issues.”
The future of the proposed initiatives is now uncertain as provincial investigation continues. What’s clear is that a visit intended to address urgent local needs has instead become a flashpoint for a much larger struggle over diplomacy, authority, and who ultimately pays the price when politics and service delivery collide.
Peter Ucko
January 29, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Idiots will put egos and power above everything. Or is the little tin provincial clown unhappy because he doesn’t get a slice of the cake? Oxfind Dictionary ‘slice of cake’ n – colloquial phrase, ‘Bribe’ encouraging agreement. Imagine if a bus overturned in EC with 17 children injured (a common occurance) & an Israeli doctor jumped into action and saved all their lives. They would accuse him of practicing medicine in SA without a licence. But – if an incompetent comrade got there and because he had no clue what he was doing 8 kids died, they would hail him a a hero for saving 9 lives. No one would suggest that he killed 8 people.
William
January 30, 2026 at 1:52 pm
Undoubtedly it’s an unfortunate ironic twist that a provincial leader would do such a ghastly thing – reject assistance because it comes from a country he hates with passion. We know it stems from his party’s stance which also strongly detests Israel. When egotistism has a firm grip in a man’s heart, reason & logic fly through the window. The people of the poorest province must suffer just to feed a man’s super ego whose atrocity knows no bounds. The great news is Israel is going nowhere. Let the haters stifle their own happiness, let them moan & groan until they’re blue in the face, the nation of our God will see the light of day irrespective of what poor man rejects his offer, rather choosing to sink in the abyss than … What a shameful state of affairs.
Mosebetsi M
January 30, 2026 at 9:03 pm
Even idiots have morals and principles. Struggles and hardships were and remain part of many our lives, some resulting from deliberate laws hatched and implemented by those who wanted to see no African person thriving irrespective of their capabilities. Verbal diarrhea to embarrass others will not make us prosper. Rather eat from or with a brother than a hypocrite. Salute to sober minded leaders. One day you shall overcome.
Vuzile
January 31, 2026 at 9:11 am
The SA government is the most coward, bruh , Africa is got many wars and you will never hear South Africa saying anything. But always busy with Israel and Palestine because they want international recognition. My bruh,when slave trade was abolished, they brought and introduced Siera Leone and Liberia, and we accepted an lived with them peacefully. But the Palestinians refused to live peacefully with Israelis next door, so it’s fine for Israel to defend themselves against separatists jihadists. Now South Africa wanna vocal about Israel and can’t even vocal for peace in Congo DRC a neighbour. Shame on the South African government!
Orso
January 31, 2026 at 12:10 pm
Maybe he will regret his decision & obvious disregard for the plight of the people, citizens. The hope is when the next round of voting comes, people will use logic, not propoganda politics. I have seen the eastern cape since 1979 go further and further backwards, the communities struggle, even the SANDF called to build bridges which the government cannot achieve.
Israel has a wealth of knowledge turning desert, swap land into an agricultural paradise. They are in the front row with innovation, something no longer encouraged or supported in south africa.
Shame on him for placing politics above serving, supporting the people.
Probably has luxury car, huge house, water and electricity supplied by the government, back-up generator, water tanks, security detail so he can live in oppulance while the local citizens suffer in silence and poverty, lacking basic services
Annie Mitchell
February 4, 2026 at 5:49 pm
You are so right you couldn’t make it up
Robert Bosman
January 30, 2026 at 8:21 am
The. Anc is not speaking for the majority of south Africans it lost its majority in the last election s we need water we this government must listen to the people
Mark Ryan
January 30, 2026 at 11:38 am
They really are ungrateful , or terrified of being shown up.
If they spent less time politicising everything and accepted assistance their province wouldn’t be in the abysmal state that it finds itself in.
Mediola parrish
January 30, 2026 at 12:47 pm
I think the people of Gaza need those resources more than the eastern cape does.
Mboneli Mavata
January 30, 2026 at 1:39 pm
For more than 4 years listening to Oscar Mabuyane’s state of province address he said this for 4 years that they gonna fix Dimbaza factories till today they are not fixed the king is right C ANC CER is dead
Llewellyn High
January 31, 2026 at 3:54 pm
So true
Ian Levinson
January 30, 2026 at 12:11 pm
Your statement reeks of prejudice and ignorance. Condemning Israel’s humanitarian offer while people suffer shows not moral leadership but selfishness and stupidity. Antisemitism disguised as political posturing is still antisemitism. A premier should be focused on alleviating suffering, not scoring cheap points by vilifying an entire nation. Justice means standing against hatred in all its forms—your words do the opposite.
Mosebetsi M
January 30, 2026 at 9:31 pm
Many other nations around the globe and some in Africa will really appreciate the humanitarian gesture. But to travel thousands of miles to offer such while ignoring or exacerbating dire conditions of your neighborhood is stupidity of the highest order. Accepting handouts from idiots and harlots masquerading as messiahs is irresponsible and moronic. Those who divide us from within are benefactors of the lazy boss. Need to be disciplined. Long live the spirit of Nelson Mandela.
Vuzile
January 31, 2026 at 9:01 am
I do really sympathize with Ian. I mean, people are dying in Congo DRC every day because of war,and instead of South Africa becoming the hugest vocal and mediator to make sure that the waring factions dialogue and peace prevail, they are busy worrying about Israel and Palestine. What a shame on the South African Government. They can’t worry about their neighbour, but wanna worry about people thousands of miles away. Shame
Thembi Sdudla
January 31, 2026 at 5:05 pm
Idiots, it’s all about power and stupid structures which do not benefit people who are suffering, King out of concern for his people go to seek help because nothing this corrupt government is doing for people he is shut down.
ANDRIES MOKGERE
January 30, 2026 at 2:25 pm
The action of the King and the Israeli government are just ways of undermining the south African government. They are trying to prove someone wrong that as if we can’t govern the country. We said permission need to be granted before engaging yourself into other countries affairs.
Ian Levinson
February 3, 2026 at 1:47 pm
The real problem isn’t foreign governments—it’s the ANC’s incompetence. They cry about interference, but the truth is they’ve failed to govern effectively, and that failure is plain for everyone to see. Sovereignty doesn’t mean hiding behind excuses; it means proving through results that you can run a country. Instead of blaming outsiders, the ANC should look in the mirror and admit they’ve undermined South Africa themselves.”
Tshepiso Naale
January 30, 2026 at 2:51 pm
Diplomatic protocols is understandable, but what is the role of our kings and people, are they mere puppets of a failed provincial government, or is it because of mere politics taking presedence over the poor and down trodden interest.
GS Turnbull
January 30, 2026 at 4:23 pm
It shows a “leader” with no regard for his people. He will rather they die of hunger and starvation than drop their totally immoral stance against Israel.
But they happily support Iran even after they butchered their own people for disagreeing with their religious fanatical government.
BRETT
January 30, 2026 at 6:35 pm
Reality is the government is getting into bed with all the wrong people following the scent of money. Like Zuma they have yet to learn that foreign countries may feign respect for the ANC but they view them as useful idiots easily swayed by briefcases of notes. Leaders whose allegiance is always on offer to the highest bidders. The hypocrisy reeks to high heaven now that one of their bedfellows is publicly executing it’s own citizen. Maybe someone should bring the president up to speed. He may just if he was just, take Iran to the ICCJ. Not!
Zandile
January 30, 2026 at 8:42 pm
Well done king Buyelekhaya Mabuyane is doing nothing for us in the eastern cape.The homelands govt were doing the same go abroad and come back with the assistance and we were not suffering during their time now under the ANC government we feel it aIsreal help us.
Mosebetsi M
January 30, 2026 at 9:51 pm
Greed, selfishness and all other maladies born of self aggrandise go back to the beginning of time. South Africans shall not allow blatant disregard for sovereignty. Traitors generally lack in many fronts, including self confidence and smart thinking. They enjoy quick but dangerous rewards.No nation is self-sufficient. What we lack in nature we buy, not seize, grab from others. Shouldn’t allow weed to derail us, not now, not ever.
enhlemuji@gmail.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:23 pm
You have failed to deliver service to EC for decades and continue to lie while your opulence is displayed with arrogance and ignorance.People need help not wishful policies,you just worried there was a pie you missed out on.Abathembu are very shrewd to seek help elsewhere,just relax your term is almost over.
Cliff Jacobs
January 31, 2026 at 6:25 am
Whereas South_Africa suffers a shortage of essentials, like water, it has an abundance of political clowns like Mabuyane.
No matter how dire the situation, he and the other ANC cadres know water will always flow from THEIR taps and food will always be on THEIR tables.
They don’t give a damn about the very people who voted for them; to the ANC cadres they’re expendable useful idiots.
Sharyn
January 31, 2026 at 10:01 am
In what world do you turn down the expertise of another country that offers to help in a dire situation.
Politics and ego over humility and gratitude – idiots
Nkosinathi Thomas Ngulube
January 31, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Every country has protocols and its governing laws to be submitted to, including Israel too. We just cannot do as we please no matter how helpful we want to be, unfortunately