‘Jolt to reality’: Gaza war forces voter rethink ahead of South Africa poll

Ahead of South Africa’s elections, parties’ take on the Gaza war is proving to be a deciding factor for more voters.

Cape Town, South Africa – Three months to South Africa’s much-anticipated general elections, the political landscape is being remade.

Since Cyril Ramaphosa became president in 2018, domestic issues like corruption within the government, rolling power cuts, and a wobbling economy have been hotly debated but Israel’s war in faraway Gaza has become a key election issue in recent months.

Since the apartheid era, the topic of Palestine has been a major point of division in South African politics as the white government stood firmly with Israel while the anti-apartheid movement saw Palestinian resistance aligned with its own.

But Israel’s continuing war in Gaza since October has forced political parties to lay their cards on the table. The two largest parties in particular – the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the main opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA) – are likely to see their constituencies change because of their positions on the war.

The ANC-led government has been unambiguous in its pro-Palestine stance. South Africa was one of the first states to refer to Israel’s actions in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack as “genocide”, and early on referred Israel to the International Criminal Court. In January, Pretoria also dragged Israel to the world’s highest legal authority, the International Court of Justice.