Apartheid wealth cannot buy silence on Gaza

What the report says

Al Jazeera published an opinion column by Tafi Mhaka arguing that South African universities should not allow private donors to determine their positions on Gaza or Israel. The column centers on the University of Cape Town, whose vice-chancellor, Mosa Moshabela, told Parliament in June that the institution had lost 250 million rand, about $15.2 million, after adopting two resolutions related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

According to the column, the Donald Gordon Foundation withdrew the remaining support from a 200 million rand, 10-year pledge for a neuroscience institute, while other donors withheld 50 million rand, including annual bursary funding. Mhaka says the UCT resolutions called for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, the return of captives and rebuilding Gaza’s education system, and separately restricted academic links with research bodies connected to the Israeli military. He notes that UCT had not implemented the latter measure.

The column says court filings showed the Donald Gordon Foundation wanted UCT to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. UCT instead endorsed the Jerusalem Declaration, which Mhaka describes as allowing criticism of Israel while condemning anti-Jewish hatred. He frames the donor withdrawal as an attempt to use wealth accumulated during South Africa’s apartheid-era economy to constrain academic speech and Palestinian solidarity.

Mhaka connects the dispute to South Africa’s inequality, student debt and the reliance of poorer Black students on bursaries. He also cites destruction of schools and universities in Gaza as context for UCT’s resolutions. The piece is an opinion article, not a straight news report, and its broader claims about apartheid wealth, Israeli actions and international campus pressure are presented as the columnist’s argument.