Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted that South Africa’s position on Israel’s occupation of Palestine has always been clear. (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As the South African delegation prepares to attend next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is not concerned the country will be given the cold shoulder over its genocide case against Israel.
Godongwana briefed journalists on the delegation’s Davos plans on Thursday and emphasised their ambition to sell South Africa as a good destination for investment.
Also on Thursday, South Africa’s case against Israel got underway at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, where lawyers argued that the Middle Eastern country has failed to prevent and to prosecute the incitement of genocide during its onslaught on Gaza.
Both Israel and its most powerful ally, the United States, have criticised the case — raising questions as to whether South Africa could face a repeat of the Lady R saga, during which scrutiny of the country’s ties with Russia inflicted considerable economic pain.
But Godongwana does not expect this will be the case, given that South Africa’s position on Israel’s occupation of Palestine has always been clear.
“Since the dawn of democracy, the single-most area of disagreement between us and America at the United Nations is the Israel-Palestine question,” the minister noted.
“We are on the opposite ends when it comes to voting on that question. It is historical. I don’t think that in any movement forward we are likely to find common ground on this issue with the Americans in particular.”
The current US administration has been particularly staunch in its position on Israel, despite growing calls for a ceasefire from the international community — as well as from those in President Joe Biden’s immediate network.
“Insofar as the court case is concerned,” Godongwana continued, “I do not know why there would be an attitude to a country that uses multilateral institutions for settling disputes, because those multilateral institutions have been set up by the United Nations for dispute settlement. I don’t see anybody likely to see this as an issue in Davos.”
Meanwhile, Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza threatens to spill over into a wider conflict in the Middle East, a predicament that would have a ripple effect throughout the global economy.
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risk Report, released this week, notes that global powers are likely to be focused on three hotspots in particular — the war in Ukraine, Israel’s assault on Gaza and simmering tensions between the US and China over Taiwan.
“Escalation in any one of these hotspots would radically disrupt global supply chains, financial markets, security dynamics and political stability, viscerally threatening the sense of security and safety of individuals worldwide,” the report adds.
According to the report, developments in the Middle East “are a source of considerable uncertainty, risking further indirect or direct confrontation between global powers”.