Al-Qalam 
BDS-South Arica and other activists groups have heaved a sigh of relief after Brimstone Investment Corporation – the holding JSE listed company of Clover Dairies – bowed to immense pressure to pull out of R4.8-million deal with an Israeli company.
This is a major coup for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which was preparing for mass action had the deal gone ahead.
Brimstone said it had decided to ditch Milco SA, a consortium that is led by Israel’s Central Bottling Company (CBC), following a protest by pro-Palestinian activist groups in South Africa.
BDS spokesman, Tisetso Magama, has “commended” the leadership of Brimstone for exiting from the deal with the Israeli company.
“We also salute members of the public and the various organizations that engaged on this issue. Notwithstanding Brimstone’s exit, BDS South Africa maintains that if the Israeli take-over had proceeded we would have actively supported or initiated the call for direct-action and a militant but peaceful campaign, including protests and disruptions against Clover and a boycott of all its products,” he added.
The exit of Brimstone from the Israeli take-over of Clover comes following an outcry from South African civil society organizations, trade unions and the BDS-SA who have all opposed the deal “based on the principle that it is being led by an Israeli company which is complicit in gross violations of human rights”.
