South Africa reverses decision, better to receive Israeli aid, than suffer from drought

South African Ministers are now prepared to engage with Israel now that 3-year drought has afflicted South Africa to the point that Cape Town, a city of 4 million, may effectively run out of drinking water mid-July.

By Charles Gardner

 

In the face of an apocalyptic scenario, the South African government has apparently been forced to eat humble pie in its ongoing spat with Israel.

The three-year drought that has afflicted the nation has now reached the drastic stage of a looming so-called Day Zero – July 15 this year – when Cape Town, a city of four million, will effectively run out of water; that is, they will be cut off from running water, and will be forced to line up at collection points for a miserly rationing.


ACDP MP, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe addresses the South African National Assembly, 24 October 2017

Opposition MP Kenneth Meshoe revealed in the Cape Town Parliament last month that both the national and provincial authorities there had refused an offer of help from the Jewish state, who have developed an extraordinary prowess in innovative water technology.

The African Christian Democratic Party member said the aid had been turned down in the pursuit of a “narrow political agenda” focused on boycotting Israel over its alleged discrimination against Palestinians.

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But now an Israeli researcher who attended a water symposium in Johannesburg last month is saying that the South African government is open to the possibility of help from Israel, and that suggestions they had spurned such aid were incorrect.

Dr Clive Lipchin, a water expert and lecturer from Tel Aviv University who grew up in South Africa, said: “ANC (the ruling African National Congress) government officials who addressed me from the audience said they were happy to look at Israel as a model.”

A member of Israel’s ‘Innovation- Africa’ team installs clean water for a refugee village in Central Africa earlier this year. – Photo: INNOVATION-AFRICA

Whatever the truth about refusal or acceptance, I have not heard any official denial of Mr Meshoe’s damning claim. In any case, the ANC leaders have made their aggressive stance against Israel abundantly clear, accusing it of being an ‘apartheid’ state, which is obviously based on misinformation spread by the UN-backed Palestinian propaganda machine.

But South Africans who lived through apartheid and know more about the situation on the ground in Israel have made their position crystal clear – for those with ears to hear – that ‘apartheid’ in Israel is pure fiction, but is very much a reality in the surrounding Arab states.

And a further dose of reality is that a dry country with a scarce water supply has more than it needs due to innovative programmes such as desalination. This has obviously led to the new approach in Cape Town, which has seen Economic Free Fighters (another opposition party) leader Julius Malema challenge those who “created water out of nothing” to see if it can be done in the Cape.

Visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Israeli PM Netanyahu drank water produced from a mobile desalination system they drove in. – Photos: Israel’s GPO

But back in 2016, a Johannesburg conference focusing on the water crisis was cancelled due to Israeli participation. There are also wild claims circulating that the drought is a Zionist plot from which Jews stand to benefit. But apparently a fear of dying of thirst is trumping political correctness.

 

View original Israel Today publication at:
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/33617/Default.aspx