ANC Stops Poor People Getting Help in Eastern Cape

The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape has taken offense at an Israeli initiative that aimed to provide clean drinking water and medical assistance to some of the poorest communities in the province.

Over recent weeks Israeli officials have travelled to the Eastern Cape to engage with poor communities and traditional leaders, including the King of the Thembu, on co-operation around clean drinking water, medical support, and agricultural assistance. The aim was practical help in some of the poorest communities in one of South Africa’s most troubled provinces. The ANC's response was to see to it that Israel’s top diplomat was ordered to leave the country within 72 hours.

That troubled province is governed by the ANC. Its premier Oscar Mabuyane described the Israeli intervention as a “sinister deal between the King [Thembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo] and Israel” and “mischievous” and raised a formal complaint, arguing that the engagement breached diplomatic protocol and further stated that “the King has no mandate to interfere”. Mabuyane also said the Israeli intervention was a “clear breach” of the “sovereignty of the Republic of South Africa.” In addition, Mabuyane said he had learnt with “shock” of the Israeli offer of assistance.

The matter was escalated to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), which on Friday declared Israel’s senior diplomat in South Africa, Ariel Seidman, persona non grata and gave him 72 hours to leave the country.

What should have shocked the premier is a report by his government’s own statistical agency into the dire state of water and sanitation services in the province he governs. Statistics South Africa reports that in the province only 70% of households have access to piped or tap water more than thirty years into democracy.

Thirty-eight percent of households in the province report that those connections are regularly interrupted. In Nelson Mandela Bay (Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth), the largest city in the province, 40% of households have reported water interruptions lasting at least two days (the comparable number for Cape Town is just 7%).

Only 78% of households in the province believe their water is safe to drink.

In terms of sanitation 49% of households still rely on pit latrines, with only 7% of those ever having been emptied.

The Special Investigating Unit, a government anti-corruption body, has been authorised to investigate alleged serious maladministration linked to water infrastructure and related departments within the province. Furthermore, according to the Auditor General’s latest audit, only six of the Eastern Cape’s 39 municipalities received clean audits.

As a consequence of its poor water and sanitation indicators the province suffers from very high levels of E. coli and related water-borne diseases. For example, there was a confirmed cholera case reported in Nelson Mandela Bay in December 2023 and a major beach closure after very high E. coli levels were detected in December 2024.

The Eastern Cape is one of the ANC’s few remaining electoral strongholds and the party feared that the optics of Israelis helping the people of that province overcome the consequences of the corruption and incompetence of its government posed too great a danger to both its foreign and domestic policy positioning to be tolerated.

The consequences will extend far beyond the borders of the Eastern Cape to impede South Africa’s efforts to improve foreign relations or stage a domestic economic recovery. The odds of South Africa securing a trade and investment deal with the United States, for example, is much reduced, given the country’s treatment of the Israelis, and the prospect of sanctions on senior government leaders has increased markedly due to the ANC and DIRCO actions on Israel.