State admits ICJ case likely to make negotiations for captured flotilla South Africans difficult

The South African government says negotiations with Israel over the capture of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels that were planning to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza are going to be difficult.

This is because of the collapsed diplomatic relationship between the two countries over Pretoria’s insistence on pursuing Israel for genocide at the Court of International Justice (ICJ).

The government is, however, pinning its hopes on the fact that the South African abductees, including Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, were captured along with other nationals and South Africa could benefit from their release negotiated by their respective countries.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday that though they have made calls for Israel to release the captives, those talks would be tense.

“It’s not going to be easy to secure the release of our nationals, but they are not alone. They’ve been abducted with other nationals, therefore, it’s going to require consistent international pressure to secure their release,” said Magwenya.

“We are doing the best we can to secure the safe release of our fellow citizens, but international collaboration is going to be vital in this regard.”

We don’t have a significant presence on the ground in Israel, which was partly necessitated by safety concerns that we had for a lot of our staff at the mission there.

—  Vincent Magwenya, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson

Magwenya said this was worsened by the fact that most of South Africa’s mission staff have left Israel over safety concerns at the height of the hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

“We don’t have a significant presence on the ground in Israel, which was partly necessitated by safety concerns that we had for a lot of our staff at the mission there,” he said.

South Africa took Israel to the ICJ in 2023 questioning its conduct in the Gaza war, arguing that its actions amounted to genocide against the people of Palestine.

This comes after Israel, in response to the attack by Hamas on October 7, launched a military exercise that killed almost 40,000 people in Palestine.

The South African government argued that actions by Israel had sought to destroy a “substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group”.

This case will play a central role in whatever negotiation South Africa will want to have with Israel about the release of the captured individuals.

According to Magwenya, the flotilla vessels ― boats carrying volunteers from different countries delivering humanitarian aid to the embattled residents of Gaza ― posed no risk to Israel and there was no need to capture them.

“Israel has made the situation around the flotilla unnecessarily volatile. It poses no threat to its security. It’s a global humanitarian aid effort by civil society. Therefore there’s no reason for blocking vital aid to Palestinians in Gaza,” said Magwenya.

He said the government was trying to reach out to the Israeli authorities nonetheless to “ascertain the status of the whole process”.

“We’ve expressed our displeasure at the abduction and we expect there should be some adherence to the basic principles of international law in this regard,” said Magwenya.

“However, our officials will be working on ascertaining the state of our fellow citizens and their whereabouts as well as working to secure their release.”