With just a few weeks left before the national and provincial elections, political analyst Ebrahim Fakir said some political parties are exploiting Israel’s war in Gaza to woo emotional Muslim voters who are at a conundrum on who to to cast their ballot for.
Fakir was responding to sentiments that Muslim voters may punish the Democratic Alliance (DA) following the comments of its leader John Steenhuisen on Israel’s war in Gaza that has left over 33 000 people dead.
Israel’s attack on Gaza has angered Muslims across the globe and South Africa. Some were even more riled when Steenhuisen questioned whether genocide was being committed by Israel in Gaza.
“One man’s genocide is another man’s freedom,” said Steenhuisen when asked about the military actions of Israel in Palestine.
Will DA lose Muslim vote?
Fakir told The Citizen that while there are some who called for a fatwa (directive) to be issued that it is “haram” (not permissible) for Muslims to vote for the DA, he does not believe that Muslim voters will boycott the party entirely.
“I don’t think there ever has been such a thing as a Muslim vote, it never existed. So, if it never existed, how is it going to be affected now? Muslim voters or a person who is Muslim, like any other voter, votes on the basis of several different kinds of motivators.
“So, some people, particularly people who are relatively more kind of political in their outlook, they vote on the basis of their values. That is, in other words, ‘can we can we see ourselves represented in a political party, are they like us, do they have different constituencies, is our constituency represented by them, do they take care of our interests and so on?’” Fakir said.
