Cotler briefs South African leaders on Iran

After meeting with senior government leaders in South Africa recently, MP Irwin Cotler will be watching developments closely at the United Nations later this month to determine whether his power of persuasion had any effect.



Irwin Cotler, left, shakes the hand of South African President Jacob Zuma, right. Both men addressed the biennial conference of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.   [Ilan Ossendryver photo]

As it has for the past five years, the UN General Assembly will consider a Canadian resolution to condemn Iran for a host of human rights violations.

In the past, South Africa has voted against the resolution, but Cotler is hoping that after briefing the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, and several cabinet ministers about Iran’s brutal treatment of minorities and its “genocidal” intention vis-a-vis Israel, South Africa will change its vote.

“South Africa should put its moral authority in support of the resolution,” Cotler said on his return last week. “South Africa has moral authority that came with the anti-apartheid movement…The government now has the opportunity to exercise moral leadership in the matter of Iran.”

Cotler, whose first visit to South Africa in 1981 landed him briefly in jail for urging the release of Nelson Mandela, also met the South African president in private where he presented a verbal report about Iran’s advocacy of “state-sponsored genocide, the danger of indifference to such incitement and the dangers of a culture of impunity which has emerged with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad’s Iran.”

Iran is a gross violator of human rights (repressing the Baha’i, women, minorities, dissidents, employing torture and detaining juveniles), is pursuing nuclear weapons and has advocated genocide. It poses “a clear and present danger” not just to Israel but to others as well, Cotler said.

“South Africa should…join other like-minded countries like Canada and the United States to hold Ahmadinejad’s Iran to account,” he added.

Zuma requested documentation that substantiated the allegations. “They will…study the file, look at the material I will send and keep in touch,” Cotler said.

Remarkably, Zuma and senior officials Cotler briefed seemed unaware of Iran’s advocacy of genocide. “My sense is that Zuma and others did not appreciate the genocidal threat posed by Iran. They are concerned with South Africa’s national agenda of nation-building – health issues like AIDS and the rise in tuberculosis. They’re not as familiar with these genocidal issues as one would hope.”

During his visit, Cotler renewed acquaintances with “heroes of the anti-apartheid movement,” including Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs and George Bizos. He also met with Winnie Mandela, members of the South African cabinet, Zimbabwean civil rights advocates and he led a session of the South African human rights commission. He also delivered a lecture at Wits University, where he was arrested in 1981.

Cotler was joined by Zuma in addressing the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. Zuma condemned racism, hatred and anti-Semitism. In an indirect reference to the Middle East, the president said,  “South Africa condemns violence from any quarter, particularly that which targets civilians,” Cotler reported.

The Jewish community maintains good relations with the government and the leadership of the anti-apartheid movement. It is served by “outstanding leadership…It is a leadership that is young, informed and courageous,” Cotler said.

Cotler said he may meet Zuma later this month at the UN. Should South Africa support the Canadian resolution it would “be the first concrete sign that its attitude is changing.

“Whatever support we get will be an advance from the situation we have now. It would be an important change in policy,” he said.