Israel’s war in Gaza continues to ricochet in a country 7,000km away.
Last week, the DA’s Ghaleb Cachalia quit the party, having been muzzled from commenting on the war after tweeting in November that what Benjamin Netanyahu was doing was “genocide”.
In his resignation letter he spoke of the rising intolerance for free speech in the party, which is an unfortunate frame for the largest opposition party ahead of a pivotal election. But his departure raises another question: the Western Cape has the biggest Muslim population in South Africa at 5.6%, according to Stats SA. So what impact will the DA’s stance on Palestine have on its support among Muslims, since it’s clear that identity is the primary lens through which communities are assessing the Gaza war? The ANC has in the past had backlash from the Muslim community in the Western Cape, which contributed to its loss of the province in 2004 after it recalled then premier Ebrahim Rasool.
For its part, the DA is adamant that it supports a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has in turn accused the ANC of using the emotive issue to distract the country from its own political failings. The DA has argued that if the ANC cared about human rights, it would have similarly defended citizens of Ukraine against Russia.
The ANC in the Western Cape, however, has predictably moved to exploit the international issue for its own gain, arguing that “a vote for the DA is a vote for Israel”. In a tense election year, in which the DA in the Western Cape is facing a threat from both the Patriotic Alliance among coloured communities and from the Freedom Front Plus among Afrikaans voters, it would be wise to handle the fallout from Cachalia’s exit with caution.
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