ANC WC says it's not using pro-Palestine stance for electioneering

CAPE TOWN - The Palestinian debate has become a hot-button issue for the upcoming elections, with the government’s support for the cause also dividing voters along political lines. 
 
In the Western Cape where the African National Congress (ANC) has been on a drive to entice disillusioned voters to return to the party, support from the Muslim community, particularly, could be critical to improving its performance in these elections. 
 
But the party’s provincial spokesperson and Member of Provincial Legislature, Khalid Sayed, said the party is not using its pro-Palestine stance for electioneering. 
  
The ANC has always enjoyed the broad support of the Muslim community in the Western Cape, cementing its first provincial win in the province 20 years ago, with Ebrahim Rasool as its premier.
 
With the ANC having lost political ground in the Western Cape to the Democratic Alliance (DA) since 2009, the Al Jama-ah party stepped in to capture some of the Muslim votes in 2019, winning its first seats in the provincial and national legislature. 
 
Since the launch of the government’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, the DA’s stance on the matter is playing into the favour of its pro-Palestine opponents in the Western Cape. 
 
Al Jama-ah’s Muhammad Haron has made no bones about his party’s intentions for the upcoming elections. 
 
“So the hopeful plan is to get the DA out for a number of issues including its pro-Zionist stance.”
 
Meanwhile, Sayed said while his party’s main electioneering focus is the bread and butter issues that face Western Cape communities, its decades-long support for Palestinian statehood is having an effect on its campaign.
 
“The Palestinian issue and our stance thereon has created an audience that is now willing to listen to the ANC message on various other issues as well, and that’s what we are working on.”
 
Sayed said the party still plans to announce a premier candidate for the province, after indefinitely postponing an announcement it had planned to make, earlier this week.