Retailer defends products in face of call for boycott

A NUMBER of Woolworths shareholders held a press briefing in Joburg yesterday to announce their support for the campaign to boycott the retailer until it ended all relations with Israel.

The briefing was called by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions SA (BDS SA) to show its support for the shareholder activism.

It was attended by Nadia Hassan, representing a group of businessmen who hold shares in Woolworths; a Jewish human rights activist representing a Jewish shareholder; a representative for Stellenboschauthor and writer Marthie Momberg, who owns shares in Woolworths; Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven; and BDS SA national co-ordinator Muhammed Desai.

Woolworths responded later, saying it had one billion shares scattered globally among shareholders.

Diverse

“We have a diverse community of shareholders. They represent an array of faiths, cultures and beliefs,” Woolworths said. “Woolworths abhors violence and loss of life, particularly of children, in any circumstance and we are deeply saddened by the tragic consequences of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.”

Desai said at the briefing they were not at liberty to disclose how many shares those who supported the boycott held.

He said BDS SA and its partners bought between 40 and 50 individual shares in order to attend the company’s annual meeting, to be held in Cape Town next Wednesday.

In the statement, Woolworths said it complied with government guidelines.

“We have no political affiliations. We fully comply with the South African government guidelines on products from Israel and the Middle East.”

“None of our products are sourced from occupied territories, nor do any of our suppliers have operations in the occupied territories.”

Woolworths said all its products, including the three currently sourced from Israel – pretzels, figs and pomegranates – were clearly labelled, for “customer choice”.

Woolworths said it had responded to all questions from BDS SA and explained its approach to sourcing products internationally. – Sapa