Lamola: SA taxpayers paying for genocide case against Israel, not foreign funders

CAPE TOWN - International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola has taken strong exception to those he says are spreading misinformation about South Africa's genocide case against Israel.

He reiterated that taxpayers were paying for the case lodged in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and not any other foreign funder.

While Lamola has not singled out anybody, on a recent visit to the United Kingdom, Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chairperson, Helen Zille, said she believed the African National Congress (ANC) government had been encouraged by Iran to launch the case.

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Minister Lamola said that South Africa's support of the Palestinian people was rooted in its own experience of colonialism, apartheid and the doctrine of international law.

He said that South Africa had presented evidence to the ICJ that starvation was being used as a weapon of war with the aim of depopulating Gaza through mass killing.

"The lamentable aspersions being cast on our case form part of a larger campaign to shield Israel from accountability, to dehumanise Palestinians and to undermine a just case firmly rooted in international law."

Lamola said that South Africa had faith that the international community would hold Israel's leaders accountable for their actions, despite the US government's pro-Israel stance.

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. No one can escape the long arm of the law. It may take years, but accountability will eventually happen."

Government's latest budget documents indicate an allocation of more than R57 million for the ICJ case.