Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Politics cloud SA Davis Cup tie
A POLITICAL storm is brewing over South Africa’s upcoming Davis Cup tennis tie against Israel following Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi’s decision to boycott the event, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Pretoria.
Nxesi’s decision follows a letter sent to him by several South African human rights organisations, as well as the personal humiliation he experienced in 2012 when he was refused entry into Israel-Palestine.
“I would actually have loved to attend the Davis Cup but given the concerns that activists and fellow South Africans are raising regarding the presence of an Israeli team, I believe that it would not be proper for me to attend,” Nxesi said in his response to a letter sent to him by BDS South Africa, National Coalition 4 Palestine, SA Jews for a Free Palestine, Palestine Solidarity Alliance and the Wits University Palestine Solidarity Committee.
“I have experienced Israeli discrimination and occupation when I was denied entry to Palestine in 2012.
“In response to this and other practices by the Israeli regime against the Palestinians, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many other notable South Africans, have called on the world to support the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement,” Nxesi added.
“This call for BDS is increasingly supported by progressive Jewish Israelis who remind us of our own icon, Joe Slovo, who, while he was Jewish, dissociated himself from the practices of the Israeli regime.”
BDS South Africa welcomed Nxesi’s decision.
Tennis South Africa (TSA), however, has distanced itself from the political fallout.
“TSA, along with 200 other countries globally, is an affiliate of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and partici- pates in the Davis Cup on an annual basis,” the sporting body said in response to the matter.
“The ITF believes that sport should be used as a unifying element between athletes and nations.” – African News Agency (ANA)