Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
27 September 2025 | 08:00 CAT

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – AUGUST 22: People holding banners and Palestinian flags gather outside the office of Glencore, demanding the company stop selling coal to Israel due to Gaza war on August 22, 2024, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A group of activists under the banner of the South African Palestine movement has accused government and corporations of fuelling Israel’s military operations through coal exports, staging a protest at the gates of the Richards Bay coal terminal earlier this week.

The protestors say South Africa’s coal is directly “amplifying the genocide in Gaza,” and have called for an immediate halt to trade with Israel. “We have done some feasibility studies into Richards Bay. We’ve been there a few times and we’ve seen our coal from Glencore move to the harbour,” spokesperson Saydoonisa Sayed told Radio Islam International. “Since our government has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, we as South Africans cannot be silent.”

The movement argues that coal exports to Israel link both state and private actors to atrocities in Palestine. “Our coal is used to provide energy to Israel. It is a stronghold that we as South Africans can call our government to account on,” Sayed explained.

The Richards Bay protest follows earlier demonstrations at Department of Trade and Industry offices in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, where campaigners demanded ministers “distance themselves from selling our coal to Israel.”

Despite concerns that halting exports might damage the local economy, the movement maintains that South Africa could find alternative markets. “It’s not going to be a job loss. The percentage that we supply to Israel, we can get somebody else to buy our coal,” Sayed insisted, urging the adoption of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) measures.

Protestors also highlighted tactics aimed at disrupting coal shipments. “We are calling on our dock workers and everyone connected with the harbour to go slow, to delay tactics, and cause mayhem in this whole chain of movement,” Sayed said. According to the movement, ships bound for Israel often fly flags of other countries, including Panama, to obscure their final destination.

Transnet security was called to the Richards Bay terminal during the demonstration, but activists vowed to continue their campaign. “South Africans are not going to be silent. We need to take action and amplify our embargo campaign: no coal to genocide Israel,” Sayed concluded.

The protest has intensified calls for accountability, with activists warning that South Africa cannot claim solidarity with Palestinians while enabling the very trade that sustains occupation and war.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie and Saydoonisa Sayed.