A statue of Desmond Tutu, the legendary South African anti-apartheid activist and an advocate of Palestinian rights, with a Palestinian scarf around his neck will go up in Cape Town in solidarity with the people of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Archbishop Tutu, who passed away in 2021 aged 90, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid in South Africa in 1984. He also was an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause against the Israeli occupying entity.
In a statement on Thursday, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation announced that a “life-size statue” of the late theologian would be temporarily on show in Cape Town “until the bombing of Gaza stops.”
“He was an outspoken critic of” policies adopted by the Israeli regime “and treatment of Palestine and Palestinians, which he likened to the policies and actions of apartheid South Africa,” the Foundation stated.
According to the statement, Tutu’s statue will be on display on the balcony of his foundation’s headquarters.
Israel ignited its war machine on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime’s atrocities against the Palestinians.
Since the start of the US-backed offensive, the regime has killed at least 23,210 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 59,167 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
South Africa filed a “genocide” case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague late last month.
Pretoria’s justice minister along with several lawyers at the top UN court on Thursday also argued that Israel’s response to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm had clearly breached the Genocide Convention, demanding an immediate end to the bloody hostilities in the besieged Palestinian territory.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause.
