Sharne Rustin
Beware of any leader who says one thing but whose actions show something very different. Words are cheap in politics. You can promise peace, claim neutrality, and talk about unity, but if your public actions and alliances tell another story, those words lose all meaning.
Politicians Love Buzzwords
Two state solution. Peace. Collaboration. But where are the images of Gayton Mckenzie, learning about the Palestinian cause or standing with their flag? There are plenty of him standing proudly with the Israeli flag.
The leader of the Patriotic Alliance, Gayton McKenzie, says he stands for the plight of Coloureds. In the Western Cape, about 42% of the population identify as Coloured, and roughly 6 to 7% of that group are Cape Malay Muslims. What is his message telling those members of our community when he positions himself so clearly with one side of this conflict?
Yes, gang violence on the Cape Flats is a crisis. It needs real grassroots action and leadership. But pretending that the Palestinian cause is unrelated or unworthy of solidarity shows a lack of understanding. Israel has killed, displaced and starved thousands in Gaza, destroyed homes, schools and hospitals, and continues to enforce an apartheid system in the West Bank. As a nation and as Coloured people we should recognise the link between their struggle and ours. The roots of our suffering on the Cape Flats come from Apartheid.
To Stand With The Oppressor or Stand With The Oppressed?
Then there are the tired, weak comments made against Hamas. Ask yourself this: what has Hamas done to Israel that Israel has not already surpassed a million times over to the Palestinians? And what side of history would any of us be on if we came from a society like the Palestinians, forced into an apartheid state or locked into a tiny strip of land like Gaza, living under what Israel had already put them through before October 7th? Imagine two years of being bombed and starved, stripped of your basic human dignity — one of the core principles of our free society today.
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Nelson Mandela himself was labelled a terrorist and sentenced to prison for rising up against the system. If he were alive today, do we really think he would stand with the oppressor rather than the oppressed?
Gayton Falsely Claims Neutrality
Gayton McKenzie says Israel is not our enemy. He says Palestine is not our enemy. Yet his public appearances tell another story. In his own words, he distances himself from Palestinian solidarity and focuses on neutrality, but he is visibly and repeatedly aligned with Israeli spaces and symbols.
When a leader claims to represent our pain while ignoring the pain of another oppressed people, that is selective solidarity. If you have lived the consequences of apartheid here, you should be able to see it there.
So how can we choose a man who chooses to look away?
