‘Hold Israel accountable’: South Africans rally behind Gaza amid ICJ case

As their government takes Israel to The Hague on genocide allegations, South Africans are standing by Palestine.

Johannesburg, South Africa – Fatima Seedat has been campaigning for Palestine for two decades. She joined the Palestinian Solidarity Committee in her first year at the University of Witwatersrand.

Now 39, the social worker and counsellor in Johannesburg still occasionally attends pro-Palestine rallies as a member of Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine (HCW4P South Africa), a group that has raised more than 100,000 rand ($5,000) to buy ambulances for Gaza and has held vigils in Cape Town and Johannesburg in solidarity with Palestinians.

HCW4P South Africa has also called for an “end to the targeting of healthcare workers, facilities, ambulances and civilians, including women and children” and “a permanent ceasefire and a diplomatic solution for lasting peace”.

“I’ve always been aware of the atrocities that Palestinians go through on a daily basis,” Seedat said.

But she is insistent that more needs to be done for Gaza. Like millions of protesters around the world who have taken to the streets against Israel’s war on the besieged enclave, Seedat said she had been horrified by the images from the Palestinian territory, where more than 23,000 people, including nearly 10,000 children, have been killed since October 7.