25 October 2025
TO ALL MEDIA HOUSES
PRESS RELEASE
NO EMBARGO
The Al Jama-ah Party welcomes Italian scholar and human rights activists Francesca Paola Albanese and will present her with the “Apartheid Bill” which has been submitted to Parliament:
The “Apartheid Bill” secretariat which consists of senior leaders of political parties will present the bill to Italian scholar and human rights activist, Francesca Paola Albanese at a gathering to be held in Cape Town on Sunday, 26 October 2025.
Albanese is an expert on human rights and has served as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since 1 May 2022; initially appointed for a three-year term, Albanese was confirmed for another three years in April 2025. She is the first woman to hold the position.
The political parties who are in support of the “Apartheid Bill,” and have delegated Al Jama-ah to present the bill to Parliament, are: African National Congress (ANC), Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), National Coloured Congress (NCC), GOOD, Rise Mzansi, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).
The “Apartheid Bill” is set for a first reading in Parliament and a debate before it will be referred to the Portfolio Committee for International Relations where it will be considered and dealt with clause by clause. The Bill is a Private Member’s Bill by the Secretariat of the eight parties which was sent to the Speaker with the assistance of Al Jama-ah’s former Member of Parliament, Advocate Shameemah Salie and it is now being led by the Party’s current MP, Hon Imraan Ismail Moosa.
Al Jama-ah’s President Hon Ganief Hendricks has commended the eight political parties for carrying out its mandate which was given by three successive protest marches to Parliament of which the last one was supported by nearly 200 000 people. “After South Africa had signed the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (“Apartheid Convention”) on 14 May 2024, it has an obligation to have such a bill in order to have sanctions and punishment for those in contravention of the
Bill,” says Hendricks.
The parties’ objectives in the Bill are aimed at those who support apartheid anywhere. “Al Jama-ah is looking forward to get the assistance from Albanese along with international human rights lobby groups when the party debates the Bill’s first reading,” adds Hendricks.
Issued by Asghar Khan on behalf of Al Jama-ah
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