Jews not invited to ANC’s 113th birthday party

The anti-Israel lobby made sure its presence was felt at the African National Congress (ANC’s) 113th birthday celebration on 11 January, as chants of “Free, Free Palestine” echoed through the Mandela Park Stadium in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

A persistent chant over a loud speaker of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” momentarily shifted the focus from a unifying celebration of the ANC’s legacy to a partisan display of solidarity with Palestine. A small group of keffiyeh-clad marchers carried placards showing clear support for Hamas, and signs saying, “Gaza the Worst Holocaust”.

This also marked one of the rare yet increasingly common instances where the Jewish community has been excluded from the ANC’s customary interfaith prayers at major events, reflecting a troubling discriminatory trend.

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) this week condemned the exclusion, with SAJBD National Director Wendy Kahn saying that was contrary to the ANC’s historical commitment to inclusivity.

Since 1994, Kahn said, it had been customary for the Jewish community to be invited to offer prayers at significant ANC events reflecting the ANC’s stated commitment to inclusivity and recognition of South Africa’s diverse faith communities.

“However, this tradition was unceremoniously abandoned in October 2023, signalling an alarming disregard for the Jewish community’s role within South Africa’s vibrant multicultural fabric,” she said.

The ANC justified its decision by claiming that faith-based leaders who prayed at the event did so on behalf of all cultural communities. However the SAJBD dismissed this explanation as “disingenuous and dismissive”, pointing out that no single religious group could represent South Africa’s diverse faiths.

The omission underscores the discriminatory nature of the decision to single out the Jewish community for exclusion, said Kahn.

“Sidelining the Jewish community isn’t only hurtful, but sets a dangerous precedent of selective representation, undermining the unity and inclusivity South Africa has worked so hard to achieve,” she said.

Political commentator Kenneth Mokgatlhe said the Jewish community was conspicuous in its absence, as members of all other faiths stood on the podium to offer prayers.

Echoing Kahn’s sentiments, he described the exclusion of the community as upsetting. “The ANC’s decision reflects a party in disarray with mismatched priorities. Its obsession with the Palestinian cause detracts from what truly matters to South Africans. This exclusion is emblematic of a broader issue – the ANC increasingly being influenced by a radical agenda, to the detriment of its broader constituency,” he said.

Mokgatlhe also bemoaned the South African government’s absence in recent historic developments in the Middle East. “When you look at this week’s breakthroughs, such as the significant hostage deal being brokered, South Africa’s government has missed an opportunity to be part of something historic and meaningful on the global stage.”

The SAJBD said that had it been invited, its prayer would have affirmed shared aspirations for unity, peace, and prosperity – a message that resonates across all faiths.

Terence Corrigan, project manager at the Institute of Race Relations, labelled the presence of pro-Palestine lobbyists at the ANC celebrations as “morbid political theatre”.

“It’s farcical,” he said. “The direction the country has taken under the ANC, the largest ruling party for the past three decades, has been reduced to leveraging a geopolitical issue – one over which South Africans have no influence and nothing to contribute – as a talking point.

“The ANC is a party in terminal decline. No foreign affairs issue has ever been an important electoral matter in South Africa. Polling research shows this. If the ANC wants to pretend that ordinary South Africans care deeply about this, then it seems like advanced political senility to me.”

As the ANC continues to grapple with its identity in a post-liberation era, critics argue that its prioritisation of foreign causes over domestic challenges is a sign of a party out of touch with its electorate. With declining electoral support and a struggling economy, the ANC’s actions may be alienating more South Africans than they are inspiring.

“The ANC remains a liberation movement at heart, and the Palestinian issue allows it to cling to that identity. It cannot celebrate much success; even the transition to democracy has become a well-worn memory,” said Corrigan.

The reality was that the ANC was now a 40% party, presiding over an anaemic economy, Corrigan said.

“It’s underperforming and being cannibalised on both sides of the political spectrum. I wouldn’t say it’s a dying horse, but it’s certainly one well past its prime. It can no longer pull the wagon, yet it’s trying to put on a show of vitality. The Palestinian issue speaks to what the ANC wishes it was. It never fully adapted to being a political party in a constitutional democracy. There’s something about the Palestinian cause that it finds ideologically irresistible, particularly in places like the Western Cape.”

The problem, he said, was that there was no counter-narrative of progress or societal well-being that the ANC could point to as worth celebrating.

“That, in itself, is enormously sad.”

The birthday celebration serves as the party’s platform to outline its plans for the year, headlined by a speech by ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa. Issues at the top of the list included the South African Communist Party’s decision to contest elections on its own while remaining within the Tripartite Alliance as well as the government of national unity (GNU).