By David Dlamini The Conservatives | 2025-04-13

The African Union, our treasured vehicle for African development, security, sovereignty  and political stability is far from reaching its ideal position as envisioned by our forebears, but be that as it may, it must remain the focus of our efforts for a real strong and democratic Africa. 

It must remain a source of serious discomfort that our treasured organisation is yet to achieve one of the fundamental objectives, the silencing of guns, the organisation lacks resources to intervene either militarily or diplomatically in conflicts that continue to undermine our aspirations for African solutions for African problems.

Trade within Africa remains at its nascent stage and the African Continental Free Trade Area represents a major milestone in our endeavors to change the ‘dark continent’ narrative that has stained so much of our history and pride. 

Pan Africanists though ,must worry about the ongoing pattern of anti-Israel resolutions and utterances emanating from the AU, its an obsession that lacks legitimacy and justification in light of the broader concerns of the people of Africa. 

Africa`s children still suffer unimaginable injustices brought about by poverty, racism, corruption, diseases, political instability,  plundering of its natural resources and underdevelopment.

It is really difficult to fathom this growing inclination by the AU to be preoccupied with the isolation and harassment of Israel, this issue has become too consuming for the AU and the justification for all this partisan stance is not convincing.

We have to suspect that this disproportionate attention to the Israel- Palestinian conflict and the bias against Israel is a manipulation of a fringe and  undemocratic influence coming from Islamists and progressives from within and without the walls of the African Union.

Africans across the political spectrum must never allow our dear organisation to be hijacked by forces that have done nothing for the Africa course, we must remain vigilant that our organisation and continent is not corrupted by external forces.

We must be alive to the risk for external players to bribe our politicians into adopting courses that lack broader African peoples’ support, the case of EU parliamentarians who were found to have received payments from an oil-rich Arab country to influence parliamentarian debates to be in favour of their country is a case in point.  

That this bought EU parliamentarians were caught is credit to the intelligence and integrity of the EU parliament and processes, we are in no position to claim that similar nefarious machinations are not in play in the African Union; but being vigilant and holding our organisation to account remains the best antidote to such corruption. 

We cannot ignore the fact that the AU`s growing anti-Israel stance is consistent and conforms to broader Islamists and progressive/Marxists campaigns against the state of Israel  taking place in various global and regional organisations. 

We seek to justify our suspicions for this undesirable influence of the AU by these forces, it is an influence that all Africans must reject, especially the Christian and Jewish communities.

The rise of Islamic political parties in North Africa and the Middle East
It has been observed by many political commentators and scholars that the Arab spring that swept through North Africa and the Middle East actually opened a space for Islamic political parties in the region.

Islamic political parties in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt won elections in their respective countries in the post-Arab uprising period, in Egypt this ushered-in the Moslem Brotherhood.

Whether the reign of these Islamic parties has been extended or curtained is of little significance for our discussion, the point is that there resides in North Africa a significant voting bloc that would prefer Islamic governments in their countries. 

We will not suggest that Arab Islamic parties and governments are necessarily decidedly uniform in their stance against Israel, especially with regards to the post October 7 Hamas terrorists’ attacks, the differences may only be in the degree of extremity rarely would it be in really fundamental ways.

It has been suggested that perhaps the fact that some of these governments signed the Abrahamic Accord with Israel just over five years ago could attest to a non- homogeneous political stance against Israel, but perhaps the best arbiter on this matter would be their own ideology. 

At the core, Islamic political parties believe on the authenticity and absoluteness of Islamic teachings, sticking to virtues of the founding doctrine; the first generation of Islam is thus treated as the benchmark of the faith, it’s a belief/ideology that does not tolerate non-conformity and is thus seen as being inimical with democracy. 

The responses of Islamic parties, organisations and governments to the October 7 terrorists attacks are really helpful to understand their stance, their response, largely, was one that expressed solidarity with Hamas, whilst simultaneously condemning the conduct of Israel in the ensuing war. 

Of course, this should not be taken in isolation, further investigation of the conduct of North Africans in the African Inion indicates a sustained anti-Israel rhetoric and activism. It is this bloc that fiercely challenged the admission of Israel into the African Union as an observer, this is despite the fact that the Palestinians already enjoy the same status. 

Of course, this is no coincidence that this rejection was led by a two-pronged ideological alliance, as the other part featured the progressive/Marxists government of South Africa. The South African ANC government was simple carrying out a mandate of its members who have made it a common practice that in all their conferences, they have resolutions that isolate Israel for special attention and condemnation. 

Just last week, the same two-pronged charge was unleashed when Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, Avraham Neguise was expelled from the African union event commemorating the Rwanda genocide. The fundamental question is this, does this Islamic bias represent the broader African people’s position ??

The Marxists /progressive side
The paramount point with ideological camp is that iT enjoys a lot of moral capital because of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa ,this is the context the deployment of South African progressives to lead the charge in the litigation against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) must be understood, it’s a strategic deployment that took into consideration the dirty hands of their Islamic comrades whose democratic credentials are too suspect to lead in this kind of campaign. 

But the two-pronged strategy should never be ignored,  it has been working with ironclad solidarity to turn the African Union into another anti-Israel front. Progressive politicians in South Africa ,across the spectrum, the ANC, EFF,  MK Party, etc., have incorporated the wearing of the Palestinian keffiyeh as part of their public image, of course the Palestinian flag is prominently displayed in their events; as you would expect, progressive political parties here at home, who are largely proteges of their big brother comrades of South Africa, have also made the Palestinian keffiyeh and flag part of their public image. 

But perhaps to appreciate the obsession of these progressives with Israel, we need to quote a Marxists thinker, Reuben Kaminer, who opined on the Israeli-Palestinian issue about twenty years ago; 

‘The class significance of the Israeli-US alliance is much broader and deeper than any of the particular class relationships in any Middle East country/s. this alliance is a major strategic factor in safeguarding neo-liberal domination. US unilateral support for Israel aggression and expansionism is a lynch pin in the Middle East status quo. 

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its related tensions are a major resource for US domination.’’ This should shed important light on the strained relations between the progressives of South Africa and the US Marxists see the US and by extension Israel, as enemies ,any trade conducted with the US would thus be parasitic and exploitative. 

The reviewal of diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa is hardly surprising, but the argument made by AFRIFORUM for targeted sanctions against certain individuals would work really well for our region and this is an argument that must be amplified by all conservatives and non-Marxists political parties and NGOs.

We have already seen the colossal impact of the withdrawal of US aid in the painful loses of jobs in the NGO sector. Given the fact that progressives have sustained their anti-American rhetoric in this period ,it is only fair that sanctions be targeted to these individuals and spare the innocent people of the region. 

The accumulating resolutions and rhetoric emanating from the African Union clearly show a posture that is increasingly becoming hostile to Israel and this is no accident as we have already demonstrated the two-pronged strategy of Islamists and progressives. 

The zealousness of both progressives and Islamists is not in question, but what we must seriously question is whether such zealousness should now be allowed to usurp the democratic rights of the peoples of Africa, North Africans are consistent with the broader Middle East rhetoric and the Marxists in South Africa are consistent with the broader internationalist agenda; but none of these should be used to turn African institutions into fronts to fight Israel, who clearly is taking punches on behalf of the US.

We have every reason to make the claim that the African Union ha , in fact, been hijacked to pursue an agenda that has no bearing whatsoever to the needs of its constituency and this must never be tolerated.                                                      

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