Makhura signs Declaration for Barghouthi’s release Gauteng Premier David Makhura has signed the Robben Island Declaration calling for the release of Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouthi. The signing took place at the annual Walk for Freedom hosted on September 28 by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance in Lenasia. Makhura is the only serving Premier in the country to have signed the Declaration, taking the lead from Kgalema Motlanthe, who signed the Declaration while still in office as Deputy President. The Declaration was also signed by Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Ismail Vadi, and City of Johannesburg Chief Whip, Prema Naidoo. “The growing support from elected representatives calling for the freedom of Barghouthi is significant, bearing in mind that Barghouthi was the first Member of the Palestinian Parliament to be arrested,” said Director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Neeshan Balton. Speaking at the event, Makhura called on South Africans to take the campaign to Free Marwan Barghouthi and All Palestinian Political Prisoners to a “different level” across the country. He compared it to the Release Mandela Campaign, which “mobilised the entire world behind the cause of freedom in our country”. Makhura also drew similarities between South African prisoners under apartheid, and that of Palestinian political prisoners. “Those of us who have been arrested before by the brutal apartheid police know what it means to be imprisoned particularly for freedom, when you stand for the freedom and liberation of your people,” Makhura said. The Premier urged those in governmental positions to support the Palestinian struggle. He also emphasised the need for ongoing international solidarity for Palestine, expressed support for the boycott of Israeli products and praised young people from the Palestine Solidarity Alliance for their involvement and creative campaigning methods. “We need to broaden this movement,” Makhura added, stating that all peace loving individuals, religious bodies, the Alliance movement and youth organisations should back the Palestinian campaign. “It is only when this movement is much broader that it will be difficult for anyone to ignore,” he said. “We in South Africa, in the name of our father, Nelson Mandela, (say) our freedom amounts to nothing when we continue to see what is happening to the Palestinian people,” Makhura stated. He added that the “Palestinian struggle and the South African struggle was cast in blood” and that these ties should be strengthened. “We want to cast that relationship again, it must be cast in stone,” he said. Makhura also termed Israel an apartheid state, urging people to stand up to injustice at all times. “If we don’t, it shall return. If you allow a monster to eat your neighbour, and think you are safe, that monster will one day come into your own house. We don’t want a state in any part of the world that is a monster. If that is allowed in any part of the world, it is a threat to our own freedom, it is a threat to our own democracy, it is threat to world peace.” Last year, a global campaign for the release of Barghouthi and all Palestinian political prisoners was launched on Robben Island in South Africa. Struggle veterans Ahmed Kathrada and Kwedie Mkalipi, together with Barghouthi’s wife Fadwa, were the first signatories of the Robben Island Declaration. Considered to be the Nelson Mandela of Palestine, Barghouthi is being held in an Israeli prison after he was abducted by the occupation forces on April 15, 2002. Following what international observers described as a “political show-trial”, Barghouthi was sentenced to five life sentences in prison after being convicted on five counts of murder. Barghouthi refused to recognise the legitimacy of the occupation court.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 09:30:33 +0000
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