Clover must prepare for a boycott

It is good to see that Brimstone has withdrawn from the joint bid with the Israeli company, the privately held Central Bottling Company, to buy out Clover.

The management and shareholders of Clover should also take note that, should the Israeli company find other partners and in any way get involved in the buyout or takeover of Clover, boycotts of Clover products will inevitably start. Public pressure will be placed on retailers and distributors to desist from marketing and stocking Clover products.

Black South Africans depended on the world to boycott South Africa to force the hand of the apartheid regime. Similarly, the Palestinians have the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign as a nonviolent way to force Israel into a just and peaceful settlement.

Years after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it controls these areas with repression, institutionalised discrimination and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights.

Any country and company dealing with Israel is a promoter and supporter of terror, racism, apartheid and injustice and must face the consequences of a public boycott. — Yunus Soomar, Durban