The ongoing court case against the Israeli state cannot be stopped, thus the ANC needs to consider this when making coalition decisions, says Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman. He planned to ask the President directly to retain Naledi Pandor as Dirco minister.

"The ANC government must be very careful about what partnerships and what coalitions they make in this country for a new government because I don't want Naledi Pandor to be removed," said Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman on Wednesday 12 June.

"I'm actually gonna ask the president to reinstate her," said Sooliman at a media briefing about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war at the Desmond and Leah Tutu House in Cape Town.

While he did not directly address it, fears have been raised within the ANC around whether South Africa's case against the Israeli state at the International Court of Justice could impact coalition talks.

As Daily Maverick associate editor Ferial Haffajee explained, a senior ANC leader said the party would first need to establish politics that it cannot negotiate - and would be hard to crack. This included foreign policy, as the ANC is pro-Palestine, while the DA is seen to be not.

"He {the President} has a choice of two cabinet ministers," said Sooliman and added: "he needs to bring her back".

At number 86, Pandor narrowly missed the cut to return as an MP as the African National Congress (ANC) only managed to get...