Members of the multi-party South African delegation to Israel meet with Israel's President Isaac Herzog. (Photo: South African Friends of Israel) 
Any of the nine South African MPs who visited Israel on a recent “fact-finding mission” will now testify to the media that “there was no evidence of apartheid and, to the contrary, Israel is a vibrant progressive multi-racial and multi-ethnic society, in which the rights of all citizens are protected and upheld by the rule of law”.
That is the claim of the group that organised the trip, the South African Friends of Israel, in a press statement sent out in response to Daily Maverick’s reporting on a secretive visit undertaken by South African MPs that included a meeting with the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
The video and images sent by the South African Friends of Israel reveal that more MPs participated in the trip than was previously thought to be the case.
The delegation included DA spokesperson on justice, Glynnis Breytenbach, and DA spokesperson on international relations, Emma Louise Powell.
They were accompanied by fellow DA MPs Katherine Christie, Bridget Masango, Nicholas Myburgh, Liam Jacobs and Bonginkosi Madikizela.
As previously reported, Patriotic Alliance (PA) MPs Ashley Sauls and Millicent Mathopa were also on the trip, together with African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP Steve Swart.
The ACDP is not part of the Government of National Unity (GNU), but the DA and the PA are — and this trip, which included what the organisers called “high-level meetings with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and senior Foreign Ministry officials”, is unlikely to be met with delight by coalition partners the ANC.
It is still unclear what message the MPs were conveying to their Israeli counterparts.
Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told Daily Maverick on Thursday, 10 April 2025: “Parliament is a separate sphere of the state. The conduct and work of MPs is the domain of the Speaker’s office. The Speaker’s office may better explain and take the nation into its confidence on what the so-called fact-finding mission entailed.”
Parliament has yet to comment on the trip.
‘Fact-finding’ or propaganda?
“All delegates observed that, and will confirm with South African media, that there was no evidence of apartheid and, to the contrary, Israel is a vibrant progressive multi-racial and multi-ethnic society, in which the rights of all citizens are protected and upheld by the rule of law,” stated South African Friends of Israel.
“They were also exposed to multiple projects where Israeli technology has been utilised to improve the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of people in Africa, and expressed frustration that South Africa’s foreign policy has been so hostile towards a country that has played a critical role in addressing the continent’s most critical social upliftment needs.”
South African Friends of Israel described the visit as a “week-long journey to witness firsthand the human impact of the conflict in Israel”.
There is no indication from the video or images that any attempt was made to expose the South African delegation to pro-Palestinian voices or to allow them to witness the devastation in Gaza.
The video sent by South African Friends of Israel only showed the group visiting the sites of Kibbutz Aza and the Nova Music Festival, where they were addressed by survivors of the 7 October 2023 massacre by Hamas.
Professor Stephen Chan of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, a well-known international relations specialist, tweeted in response to Daily Maverick’s initial reporting on the South African delegation: “This kind of visit is ridiculous unless you are free to meet ALL parties, & do so at length.”
Two British MPs visiting Israel last week as part of a parliamentary delegation organised by Medical Aid for Palestinians were deported by the Israeli government due to past statements that were critical of Israel, sparking a major diplomatic row.
Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed’s deportation was because they were suspected of plans to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred”, the Israeli immigration ministry said.
The incident exposed the steely grip exerted by the Israeli government over such delegations — rendering the chance of the South African party receiving an objective view even slimmer.
Patriotic Alliance says nothing secret about the trip
“No one in the PA was ever trying to keep any trip to Israel a ‘secret’,” Patriotic Alliance spokesperson Steve Motale said in a statement on Thursday.
He was responding to Good party secretary-general Brett Herron, who suggested in a statement on Wednesday that the trip was characterised by a “concerted effort to avoid publicity”.
Said Motale: “The senior leaders of the PA also had a trip to Israel in 2023, and were equally open and proud of it. The president of the PA, Gayton McKenzie, intends to take his children on holiday to the Holy Land as soon as time can be found for it.”
Yet there does seem to have been an attempt, at least among DA MPs, to keep the trip under wraps. None appear to have posted about it on their public social media platforms.
Perhaps most notably Liam Jacobs, a DA MP who has become well known for documenting his activities on social media, gaining him a following of more than 125,000 on TikTok, has posted nothing about the Israel visit. DM