On 24 November 2017, the Council of the Tshwane University of Technology formally approved a recommendation by the Institutional Forum that TUT will not have any ties with Israel, Israeli organisations and institutions.
In 2016, the Embassy of Israel hosted a conference in South Africa bringing together some of the most prominent water researchers specialising in water usage in water-scarce countries. On conclusion of the conference the Ambassador undertook to distribute the book Let there be Water, authored by Seth Siegel, to universities in South Africa.
The Ambassador visited TUT’s Faculty of Science due to its expertise in water-related studies in the Departments of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Environmental Health, as well as its water-related Research Chairs. The nature of the visit was to distribute and donate copies of the book to departments within the Faculty, as well as copies for the Science Library.
As a result, TUT had received queries from our student organisations, staff members, Palestinian human rights activists, as well as from a group of Jewish Israeli citizens who are opposed to their country’s occupation of Palestinian land.
As a progressive University in a democratic South Africa, we want to affirm that TUT will not sign any agreements or enter into scientific partnerships with any Israeli organisation or institution until such time that Israel ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
The University will not stand back and accept the violations of the Israeli government when it confines the movement of Palestinian children and youth on their own land and restricts their ability to access education through destroying the schools.
TUT furthermore supports the call by various bodies, including student bodies and other progressive organisations to boycott Israel and Israeli institutions for as long as Israel continues to violate the basic human rights of the Palestinian people, as well as international laws.