The South African Communist Party (SACP) wants to meet with Orlando Pirates over its decision to play a match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The SACP said it hoped that there was still time for Pirates to reconsider its decision to go ahead with the match.
Pirates are set to play against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Spain on Thursday, as part of a series of friendly games that the team will play.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition first raised the alarm last Friday when it urged the Soweto giants to pull out of the game citing Israel’s human rights abuses in Palestine.
SACP General-Secretary Solly Mapaila said he will seek an urgent meeting with Pirates over the matter.
“On behalf of the SACP, I will ask for an urgent meeting with Orlando Pirates FC to discuss this important call”, said Mapaila.
The SACP said Israel was not only taking the land of Palestinians, it was also killing women and children.
It urged Pirates to not play the match on Thursday, as it would take away what it stood for against apartheid.
The people of Palestine were waging a similar Struggle against Israel.
They are persecuted everyday by the Israeli government. Pirates must stand in solidarity with Palestinians, the SACP said.
The SACP said the agent that arranged the match was throwing Pirates under the bus.
“The agent that Orlando Pirates refers to in its statement, who has arranged the match, is throwing the club into a deep reputational crisis that could erode its historic legacy and make it difficult for the club to recover from the subsequent negative impact,” the SACP said.
“Agents cannot automatically be viewed to be neutral or immune from political influence by powerful forces on the global political and economic scene. The response by the club management threatens to roll back the Orlando Pirates value system.”
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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