South African NGO, rooted in Gandhi’s Congress movement, honours ICJ team

The Congress of Business and Economics (CBE), an NGO which has its roots in the Congress movement started by Mahatma Gandhi during his tenure in South Africa, has honoured the legal team that represented the country in its case against Israel’s attacks on Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

At the annual gala banquet and awards evening of the CBE here on Saturday, nine senior legal experts from South Africa and several countries abroad, as well as the government departments involved in the process, received the AhmedKathrada Excellence in Leadership Award.

The award is named after the late veteran Indian-origin freedom fighter, who spent just a year less than that of his close friend Nelson Mandela’s 27 in prison.

“Kathrada and Mandela were both inspired by Gandhiji’s principles, with Kathrada being an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause during his lifetime. We believe that if Gandhiji was alive today, he would have been leading the fight against the Israeli oppression in Palestine, much in the way that the South African government has taken the global lead in this regard,” CBE president Ashfaq Dawood said.

“The CBE has gained its reputation as an activist organisation from its inception as it always stood firm on the principles of equality with zero tolerance for any kind of oppression. We have always rallied with the government to protect the interests of those without a voice or ability to defend their rights.

“It is no coincidence that the CBE has decided to recognise the South African presidency and ICJ team for granting a voice to the Palestinian people and pleading the case of this oppressed nation. We have to acknowledge that South Africans irrespective of all our internal challenges today feel proud of our country and feel a sense of nationalism as we all rally behind our government and its efforts to stop this genocide,” Dawood said.

Almost 500 people attended the event where the keynote speaker was Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the internationally acclaimed humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers (GoG), which also assisted in India during natural disasters.

Sooliman said Israel has been suffering greatly internally in the war against Gaza for over a year now but is not making this known, including by banning international media from covering the war directly from within Israel, which has led to a lack of information about a number of issues that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing.

“Two million citizens have left Israel. They haven’t told you how difficult it is to get a doctor because medical people have left. The war will cost them by the end of this year USD 120 billion, which is 20 per cent of their GDP. The port of Haifa is bankrupt.

"There is a decreased investment in infrastructure, construction and agriculture. As many as 250,000 settlers are sitting as refugees and the government has to support them. The growth that they forecast at 3 per cent has dropped to below 1.5 per cent.

"Almost 46,000 businesses have closed and by the end of this year, 66,000 businesses will be closed. Their tourism has dropped by 81 per cent from 800,000 tourists to 100,000 tourists. Internally there is no hospitality industry because the local people are too scared,” Sooliman said.

He added that “mental illness in Israel is at an all-time high, alongside suicide among Israeli soldiers who don’t want to go back to fighting”.

He said that despite the assassination of GoG’s leader in Gaza and a number of other staff and their families in targeted killings by Israel, the other team members are boldly continuing their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in the face of huge constraints.