The University of the Western Cape (UWC) this week published a request for business owners wishing to tender to provide sporting attire for the university to issue a “signed certificate in respect of non-affiliation with the state of Israel”. The demand, published on 24 October, was one of the “mandatory criteria” for those wanting to tender.
The requirement comes amid virulent hatred of Israel and the West on UWC’s campus. On 7 October 2025, the UWC Palestinian Solidarity Association posted on Instagram: “Glory to the resistance, victory to the martyrs, f*ck Israel, f*ck settler colonialism, f*ck USA, free all Palestinian hostages, break the siege.” It also hosted a talk on 8 October 2025 to explain “Why Al-Aqsa Flood [Hamas’s 7 October 2023 massacre] was so very necessary, and asked participants to download Hamas content beforehand”.
The university now has a Palestinian flag permanently raised in front of its main hall, and on 15 May, it encouraged students to attend a rally on campus protesting the “Nakba”.
Daniel Bloch, the executive director of the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies, says his organisation is aware of the tender demand, and “we are exploring all avenues to challenge this discriminatory practice”.
Despite the South African government’s political stance on the Jewish state, “South Africa continues to maintain economic, political, and trade relations with the state of Israel,” says Bloch. “No official anti-Israel policies have been implemented at national level. It’s therefore deeply concerning that a public institution, funded by South African taxpayers, believes that it has the authority to impose unilaterally this type of exclusionary measure.”
The policy “not only undermines national policy consistency, it also discriminates against South African citizens and businesses based on perceived associations or beliefs – a clear violation of our Constitution’s principles of equality and non-discrimination”, he says.
Advocate Mark Oppenheimer, an expert on hate speech, says “UWC’s tender requirement that suppliers of sporting apparel provide a certificate declaring that they are ‘non-affiliated with the state of Israel’ is highly discriminatory and actionable under the Equality Act.” It amounts to “discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity and, arguably, religion. It’s notable that no other state is singled out in this way, and it would be prudent for UWC to withdraw this condition before it finds itself a defendant in a lawsuit”, he says.
Antisemitism expert and emeritus professor of history at the University of Cape Town, Milton Shain, says the requirement is outrageous. “The collective identity of Jews began in the land of Israel, which has always been central to Jewish history. In exile, the connection endured. Jews pray towards Jerusalem. The connection is physical and spiritual. Must this be disavowed in a ‘signed certificate?’
“Israel is a member of the family of nations, created by the United Nations,” Shain says. “One can agree or disagree with her policies, but why does ‘affiliation’ amount to a crime? Can a Christian Zionist be a service provider? Are we moving towards a society in which one will have to declare one’s affiliations to the satisfaction of ‘Big Brother?’ Perhaps a yellow star will be next at UWC for those ‘affiliated’ to Israel.”
Gasant Abarder, the manager of media and marketing at UWC, told the SA Jewish Report that the requirement aligns with the university’s decision in June 2024 to “disengage academically” from Israeli institutions. “UWC will interact with Israeli institutions – universities or organisations – only if the institution supports, through policy and facts, the basic human rights of every individual,” says Abarder.
The decision to “disengage academically” was made by a motion endorsed by the UWC Council, Senate, Convocation, and Student Representative Council in June 2024. The motion says that the university’s management is tasked with “disclosing all UWC investments in Israeli products and companies”.
UWC will also advocate at national level for “South African universities to adopt full academic disengagement from Israel”.
Senior attorney Ian Levitt says, “This is one of the most astounding requirements for a tender that I’ve ever seen, more so because it requires a formal, signed certificate declaring ‘non-affiliation’ to the state of Israel.”
He points out that Israel is a democracy, with Arab political parties, LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual) rights, women’s rights, and judges of all nationalities and religions. He therefore asks if UWC wants service providers to sign a certificate declaring that they aren’t aligned with democracy and diversity, and what this means for South Africans.
“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” says Levitt. “I’m sure there’s more to this requirement than meets the eye.”
Michael Bagraim, shadow labour minister for the Democratic Alliance; trustee at the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry; and a labour law expert, says, “The advert, certainly on the face of it, appears to be incredibly discriminatory. I’m not sure who would sign a certificate in respect of non-affiliation. That sounds like a real fiction.”
He doesn’t believe that the tender is legal “but it would take a lot of research to see the rules and regulations of tender requirements at UWC. I certainly don’t believe that a general tender could bring in a comment of this nature. For instance, if it said non-affiliation with any other country, everyone would look at it aghast.”
He believes “UWC is trying to take a leaf out of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) book in a very crude manner,” referring to UCT adopting two resolutions that aim to criticise Israel, which are being challenged in the Cape Town High Court. “It’s a tragedy how universities are behaving in South Africa.”
South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) spokesperson Rolene Marks says the organisation is appalled by the requirement. “This is blatant discrimination, pure and simple,” she says. “It has nothing to do with supplying sports attire and everything to do with importing divisive Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions politics into university procurement.”
It’s also “discrimination against the nation state of the Jewish people – and therefore inherently antisemitic”, Marks says. “When the Jewish state is singled out for opprobrium, while countless other global conflicts are ignored, it exposes a gross double standard and clear act of prejudice.”
And it’s “deeply hypocritical”, Marks says. UWC already “relies on Israeli-developed technologies across its daily operations, from cybersecurity systems and data storage to agricultural and medical innovation”. To demand that suppliers “disavow Israel, while benefiting from its inventions, is indefensible”.
Marks emphasises that a South African university should “champion inclusivity, fairness, and academic freedom, not impose political loyalty tests on service providers. This kind of ideological gatekeeping erodes academic integrity and sets a dangerous precedent for all public institutions.”
The SAZF has called on UWC to “remove this discriminatory clause immediately”, and “uphold the constitutional principles of equality, freedom of association, and non-discrimination that should define our country’s public universities”.
Source: https://www.sajr.co.za/uwc-demands-tender-bidders-disassociate-from-israel/
.
