By Iqbal Jassat
The Hague Group signals a turning point in the Global South’s push for accountability—will South Africa’s NPA rise to the challenge?
In welcoming the latest initiative by a group of nine countries from the Global South known as The Hague Group who have committed themselves to pursue several key goals seeking accountability for Israel’s brutal and bloody devastation wreaked upon Palestinians, it is equally encouraging to note the participation and leading role of South Africa.
In addition to the Director of South Africa’s Department of International Relations (DIRCO) Zane Dangor, representatives from the governments of Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Belize and Senegal met at the Hague to inaugurate this historic movement.
Hosted by Progressive International (PI), a global political organization comprised of activists and organizations worldwide, the new formation has been described by the PI’s Gandikota-Nellutla as a group for “collective action at a national level, international level and at a multilateral level” to enforce international law and protect the inalienable right of Palestinians to self-determination.
However, in contrast to the silence of South Africa’s security cluster in particular the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks who have a direct interest in upholding the government’s quest to seek justice for Palestinians, the UN’s Special Rapporteur has hailed the formation of The Hague Group.
Francesca Albanese has described it as the “best news” from a coalition of policymakers “in a long time”. She also said on social media: “Let’s make it real. And let’s keep growing.”
Being aware that the NPA has yet to decisively move on a cluster of comprehensive complaints lodged by various Palestinian solidarity groups, including the Media Review Network, seeking the arrest and punishment of locals engaged in Israel’s genocidal army, it is hoped that the following message will be plastered on Shamila Batohi’s office wall:
“The Hague Group’s formation sends a clear message — no nation is above the law, and no crime will go unanswered,” said the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola.
Against the background of South Africa’s legal challenges mounted at both the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it is pertinent to question why the NPA has failed to hold local mercenary terrorists accountable.
For the NPA to remain unmoved and passive in the face of both domestic and international crimes, is in direct contradiction to the lofty ideal DIRCO has committed itself to in The Hague Group.
The seriousness of purpose by the nine nations is underscored by DIRCO Deputy Minister Alvin Botes’ address at the High-Level Summit in the Hague, wherein he emphasized the need to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on Israel in response to its violations of international law and ongoing war crimes in Gaza.
He reminded the audience that following South Africa’s groundbreaking application at the ICJ pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against the State of Israel for their brutal assault on Palestinians in Gaza, and an order seeking Provisional Measures to compel Israel to end its genocidal acts in Palestine, the court made such orders, but Israel refused to abide by them.
Subsequently, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to endorse the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion resulting in a resolution to put in place countermeasures for Israel’s breaches of international law.
A key component of the resolution which seems to not have registered on Batohi’s radar is that all states have an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s Illegal presence in the OPT.
If these decisions are binding on states and their respective institutions responsible for implementing them, it is scandalous for the NPA and the Hawks to not have moved yet by investigating local pro-Israel individuals and organizations known to be complicit in the settler colonial regime’s crimes.
Batohi needs to be reminded that part of the Hague Declaration emphasized the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law through appropriate, fair, and independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level, and to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
Doesn’t the NPA derive its mandate from section 179 of the Constitution? Of course and its mandate is clear:
“Section 179(2) expressly empowers the prosecuting authority to institute criminal proceedings on behalf of the state. Legislation requires the National Prosecuting Authority exercise its mandate without fear, favour, or prejudice.”
In addition, the constitution also empowers the NPA to carry out any necessary function incidental to instituting criminal proceedings on behalf of the state.
South Africa’s solidarity movements in support of Palestine’s freedom struggle and the wider civil society formations aggrieved by the loss of “lives, livelihoods, communities, and cultural heritage” due to Israel’s “genocidal actions in Gaza and the remainder of the OPT”, have legitimate concerns about the NPA’s failure to prosecute the hundreds (if not thousands) of SA citizens actively engaged in the genocide.
It does not require much digging by Batohi and her team to unearth criminal activities by local pro-Israel supporters and their organizations in violation of UN Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) of December 2016, which reaffirmed that “the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law”.
The Hague Declaration makes it clear that the legal norms violated by Israel “include certain obligations of an erga omnes character that are, by their very nature, the concern of all States and, in view of the importance of the rights involved, all States can be held to have a legal interest in their protection”.
In its declaration, the steps outlined by the Hague group reflect growing frustration in the Global South over what is perceived as Western double standards regarding international law.
However, in the local context, the question remains whether the NPA will respond positively now that the Hague ball has landed in its court to institute and conduct criminal proceedings against South Africa’s Zionist enablers, funders, and participants in Israel’s wide array of crimes.
Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
2 February 2025
Source: palestinechronicle.com