The City of Cape Town will be offering the Athlone Stadium free of charge to host the upcoming exhibition matches between the Palestine national football team and SA invitational XI.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said yesterday the City’s support for the South African Football Association’s Football 4 Humanity event would include a waiver of rental hire costs for the two matches at the stadium, scheduled for 11 and 18 February.
The City will also provide R400 000 in event support services, including traffic, waste management and related services.
The DA-run City has come under fire in recent months for its position in the Palestine- Israel conflict, following several incidences where authorities clashed with local residents, who painted the Palestinian flag on private and public walls in protest at the genocide in Gaza.
Now, following South Africa’s historic victory in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice on Friday, the City says it is “proud” to welcome the Palestine team.
Hill-Lewis says: “Cape Town looks forward to welcoming the Palestinian national football team to our city. We are glad and proud to support this event.
“We hope that Capetonians will come out to enjoy these matches, and show support for peace and justice in Palestine. This is an important symbolic way of supporting the two-state solution and the full recognition of Palestinian statehood.”
The Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies Executive Director Daniel Bloch said the Football 4 Humanity event has missed a valuable opportunity to host both the Palestinian and Israeli football teams.
He says: “This would send a powerful message that both sides are committed to peace. We hope that this football match is not used as a platform to spread hate and incite violence but rather to call for peace.”
Professor Usuf Chikte, Western Cape Coordinator for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in South Africa said the “pro-apartheid City of Cape Town — no friend of the Palestinians — has grudgingly accepted this and is trying to make political capital out of it”.