By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Tanzanian-born British Nobel Literature laureate, Abdulrazak Gurnah has applauded South Africa for approaching the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the conflict in Gaza.
The British novelist and academic won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2021.
Gurnah was delivering a keynote address at the 2024 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.
Wits University hosted the 22nd Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on September 28th at the Wits Linder Auditorium.
The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is celebrated for bringing together global leaders to address and propose solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. This year’s lecture will explore deep questions on decolonisation and belonging under the theme “Our Shared Humanity.”
It is fitting that the 22nd Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture held at Wits University where Mandela studied during the 1940s as the only Black student in the School of Law at the time. At Wits, Nelson Mandela formed life-changing friendships with activists who fought alongside him against Apartheid, defended him in court, and sacrificed their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy today. In his honour, the Wits Mandela Institute was established in the Wits School of Law in 1994. Some of his papers, including his handwritten notes during the Rivonia Trial remain at Wits for safekeeping.
Gurnah said South Africa’s case has invited greater condemnation of the tragic events perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.
“The court’s ruling and its warrants will only be more words, in the end, and words will not end this or other injustices, will not rebuild schools or hospitals, or end detentions and the destruction of cities,” he said.
Gurnah, 75, however, expressed opportunism. “There are times when words is all we have — words and sympathy — and an understanding of our comparable experiences, our shared humanity,” he said. “Having a sense of shared humanity means being committed to championing justice … and to demand profound care for the environment and for other species. In an international context, our sense of shared humanity should guide our understanding of justice and inspire us to pursue justice beyond the borders of our respective communities and countries.”
South Africa filed the case at the tribunal based in The Hague in late 2023, accusing Israel, which has bombed Gaza since last October, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The top UN court ordered Israel in May to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It was the third time the 15-judge panel issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate humanitarian suffering in the blockaded enclave, where casualties have surpassed 41,000.
Several countries have joined the genocide case against Israel including, Türkiye, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia. The case began public hearings in January.
Gurnah noted his experience during colonialism in Zanzibar in 1960, when he was a 12-year-old school boy. He said it was a time of unprecedented excitement as the politics of decolonization were approaching a climax.
He said he came to know about South Africa, where the white minority ruled, because of the sense of solidarity that arose out of the decolonization activities that led to boycotts of South African products.