{"id":6037,"date":"2025-07-16T14:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=6037"},"modified":"2025-07-16T19:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:37:14","slug":"from-anti-apartheid-to-pro-occupation-south-africas-mk-party-and-the-abandonment-of-international-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=6037","title":{"rendered":"From Anti-Apartheid to Pro-Occupation: South Africa\u2019s MK Party and the Abandonment of International Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adala UK expresses its profound concern and disappointment regarding the recent public endorsement by South Africa\u2019s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, led by former President Jacob Zuma, of Morocco\u2019s so-called Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara. This position represents a deeply regrettable departure from South Africa\u2019s longstanding support for the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence a right firmly enshrined in international law and foundational to global decolonisation efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Dangerous Contradiction: From Anti-Apartheid to Pro-Occupation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s struggle against apartheid is a powerful symbol of resistance to systemic injustice and colonial oppression. For decades, the South African liberation movement, led by the African National Congress (ANC) and supported by solidarity networks across the world including Morocco called for unwavering international support against the apartheid regime. That same moral clarity and commitment to international legality should now extend to the Saharawi people of Western Sahara, who remain Africa\u2019s last colony under foreign military occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former President Zuma\u2019s statements, made following a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, abandon this legacy. By praising Morocco\u2019s autonomy plan and recognizing its alleged \u201csovereignty\u201d over Western Sahara, Zuma and the MK Party have aligned themselves with a narrative that whitewashes decades of military occupation, forced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and systematic human rights abuses committed by Moroccan authorities against Saharawi civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This stance not only contradicts the legacy of South Africa\u2019s own liberation but also undermines the principles of international solidarity for oppressed peoples. During apartheid, South Africans called for international sanctions, isolation of the apartheid regime, and recognition of the African people\u2019s right to govern themselves. The Saharawi people are calling for the same today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Sahara: A Matter of International and European Law<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The legal status of Western Sahara is unequivocal. Since 1963, the United Nations has recognized it as a Non-Self-Governing Territory. In 1975, the International Court of Justice ruled that no legal ties of sovereignty existed between Morocco and Western Sahara that would alter the Saharawi people\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in a landmark decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)<\/strong> Front Polisario v. Council of the EU (2016 and reaffirmed in 2021)<\/em> the Court ruled that Western Sahara is a separate and distinct territory from the Kingdom of Morocco<\/strong>, and that no agreement between the EU and Morocco can lawfully be applied to Western Sahara without the express consent of the Saharawi people<\/strong>, as represented by the Polisario Front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This legal precedent reinforces what the United Nations and the African Union have repeatedly affirmed: Morocco has no legal sovereignty over Western Sahara, and its occupation is in violation of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called Moroccan Autonomy Plan, promoted as a \u201cpractical solution,\u201d is not a substitute for a free and fair referendum on independence. The plan effectively cements Morocco\u2019s illegal occupation and denies the Saharawi people their fundamental right to determine their political future. It is a unilateral proposal that contradicts the UN Charter, multiple UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, and the legal opinions of international and European courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Abuses: Well-Documented and Ongoing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From Adala UK\u2019s own archives and independent UN reports, the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara is marked by ongoing and grave human rights violations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n