Protests erupted across several South African cities this week, calling on the government to immediately halt all coal exports to "Israel" amid its ongoing war on Gaza.

Demonstrators raised banners reading “Glencore fuels genocide” and “No coal from South Africa to Israel, ban coal exports over genocide.”

The protests were held in major cities, including Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town, where demonstrators gathered outside offices of the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, urging the government to prohibit coal companies from supplying the occupation.

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Iqbal Jassat, a senior executive at the Johannesburg-based research group Media Review Network, told Anadolu Agency, “It is outrageous that tons of coal exported from South Africa to the settler-colonial regime are fueling its massacre of Palestinians.”

He criticized the South African government for delaying action, stating it should act decisively and on principle.

Meanwhile, Mametlwe Sebei, President of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa, emphasized the contradiction in policy. “As a country that took 'Israel' to the International Court of Justice, we cannot continue supplying coal to Israel, a state that powers its grid and military-industrial complex used in genocide.”

South Africa filed a case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in late 2023, accusing it of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention through its war on Gaza. The case marked a significant legal escalation and has galvanized public sentiment across the country.

Read more: South Africa threatens to withhold minerals amid US aid cut: FP