Scores of people came out and braved the hot Cape Town weather on Thursday as they marched in solidarity with Cuba, Palestine and Russia demanding that South Africa take further action regarding global conflict.

People from various civil organisations, and trade unions joined the march organised by the People’s Movement for Change (PMC) which was formed in 2023 by Marius Fransman.

The marchers, who started their route in Darling Street, walked all the way to the Parliament building, chanting “Free Palestine” and “Free Cuba” among other phrases to show their support for the plight of the aforementioned countries.

The memorandum, read out by Fransman at Parliament said that they see the United States of America as an immediate threat to global peace and political freedoms.

“As we rise up, we are confronted by the brutal unipolar hegemonic authoritarian United States of America, seeking to destroy an already fragile multilateralism and respect for sovereign rights of nations.

“We regard the United States of America as a direct and immediate threat to global peace and political freedoms. We reject Donald Trump’s interference in South African domestic affairs with contempt, we regard those who collaborate with him as the enemy of the people,” Fransman said.

With regards to Palestine, they demanded that the government call for the immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners, with special emphasis on Marwan Barghouti and other political leaders.

Other demands include:

Introduce legislation prohibiting dual South African-Israeli citizenship until the occupation of Palestinian territories is conclusively ended.
Expand South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to include states providing arms or diplomatic protection to Israel during its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Extend an official invitation to President Mahmoud Abbas to participate in the upcoming G20 Summit, specifically for discussions on Gaza economic reconstruction and the cessation of occupation
Petition the ICJ for an order allowing South African mental health professionals to travel and be enabled to provide trauma services in Gaza, funded by South Africa, to address the humanitarian crisis.

In the matter of Cuba, the organisations are also calling for the Cuban embargo issue to be elevated to the African Union agenda as a continental priority requiring united African action.

Acting Secretary-General of the Friends of Cuba Society, Clever Banganayi, said that the reason for their participation in the march was mainly to promote the issues faced by Cuba.

“We want people in South Africa to come out and denounce the blockade on Cuba, denounce the listing of Cuba as a terrorist sponsor by the United States, and also seek the return of Guantanamo Bay.”

On the matter of Russia, the groups President Cyril Ramaphosa to use diplomatic channels to pressure Western nations to pursue peaceful negotiations rather than continuing arms transfers to Ukraine.

Fransman said he was questioned on the inclusion of showing solidarity for Russia, but he explained that Ukraine is being used “as a proxy war”.

He said that instead of addressing the memorandum to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, they addressed it to the Presidency “because what we are seeing is the very fibre of the South African state under threat”.

The memorandum was received by Babalwa Zungula, a representative from the presidency who said: “We will make sure the memorandum reaches the relevant people.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za