South Africa won’t push ‘anti-Semitic’ dual citizenship ban
Minister denies changes planned in policy, after Pretoria discussed law to prevent Jews from joining IDF
South Africa is not planning to ban dual citizenship, a senior official told Jewish organizations Wednesday, after the country’s government was said to be considering a policy meant to stop the country’s Jews from joining the Israeli army.
Dual citizenship is protected by the Citizenship Act, and the government has no plans to make changes to the policy, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said, according to a Thursday statement by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.
The SAJBD and the South African Zionist Federation had accused senior ANC official Obed Bapela of anti-Semitism and unfairly singling out the country’s Jewish population.
The government does not tolerate anti-Semitism or other forms of racism, Gigaba told the SAJBD and SAZF leadership.
The meeting was convened in response to comments made by Bapela last month, in which he said the country would push ahead with plans for a dual citizenship ban.
Bapela had said that “model” of dual citizenship may not have “a place in the world,” according to the South African daily The Sunday Times.
“The law is to be enacted simply to target one minority group, and this is unjust. Furthermore, [Bapela’s] calls to target Jewish business and his questioning of Jewish South African’s loyalty to this country is classic anti-Semitism,” read a September statement by the two Jewish groups.
In July, Bapela called for an investigation of politically active students who had visited Israel under the auspices of the South Africa Israel Forum, since the visit brought the African National Congress into “disrepute,” he said.
The government in Pretoria has been among the most hostile to Israel in recent years. South Africa’s minister of higher education Blade Nzimande, a member of the Communist Party, has openly campaigned for a boycott of Israeli universities and other institutions, and was denied entry into the country for a working visit to Palestinian Authority areas in April.
Jews account for an estimated 0.2 percent of South Africa’s population. It is not known how many serve in the IDF.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
