South Africa won`t push `anti-Semitic` dual citizenship ban

Source: The Times of Israel, 01/10/2015

Minister denies changes planned in policy, after Pretoria discussed
law to prevent Jews from joining IDF
South Africa is not planning to ban dual citizenship, a senior
official told Jewish organizations Wednesday, after the country`s
government was said to be considering a policy meant to stop the
country`s Jews from joining the Israeli army.


Dual citizenship is protected by the Citizenship Act, and the
government has no plans to make changes to the policy, Home Affairs
Minister Malusi Gigaba said, according to a Thursday statement by the
South African Jewish Board of Deputies.


The SAJBD and the South African Zionist Federation had accused senior
ANC official Obed Bapela of anti-Semitism and unfairly singling out
the country`s Jewish population.


The government does not tolerate anti-Semitism or other forms of
racism, Gigaba told the SAJBD and SAZF leadership.


The meeting was convened in response to comments made by Bapela last
month, in which he said the country would push ahead with plans for a
dual citizenship ban.


Bapela had said that "model" of dual citizenship may not have "a place
in the world," according to the South African daily The Sunday
Times.


"The law is to be enacted simply to target one minority group, and
this is unjust. Furthermore, [Bapela`s] calls to target Jewish
business and his questioning of Jewish South African`s loyalty to this
country is classic anti-Semitism," read a September statement by the
two Jewish groups.


Obed Bapela (R), a deputy minister in South African President Jacob
Zuma`s office, who threatened to summon students who visited Israel to
an investigation. (YouTube)


In July, Bapela called for an investigation of politically active
students who had visited Israel under the auspices of the South Africa
Israel Forum, since the visit brought the African National Congress
into "disrepute," he said.


The government in Pretoria has been among the most hostile to Israel
in recent years. South Africa`s minister of higher education Blade
Nzimande, a member of the Communist Party, has openly campaigned for a
boycott of Israeli universities and other institutions, and was denied
entry into the country for a working visit to Palestinian Authority
areas in April.


Jews account for an estimated 0.2 percent of South Africa`s
population. It is not known how many serve in the IDF.