St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town was packed on Friday evening for a concert to mark Mandela Day and raise money for Palestine.
Zolani Mahola was the master of ceremonies at the Songs for Freedom at St George Cathedral on Friday. She performed with her band, Feminine Force. Photos: Matthew Hirsch
The Songs for Freedom concert featured several South African artists, including Tina Schouw, Msaki, Boskasie, and Zolani Mahola, who was also the emcee of the event.
Tickets were sold out, and more than R260,000 was raised for HEAL Palestine, an organisation providing health services for people in Gaza.
Halfway through the two-hour show, the audience observed a moment of silence.
Mahola told the audience that the event was a call to action. “You can act from right here. It can be for Palestine, it can be for South Africa. It can be for our continent, it can be for your neighbours,” she said.
Tickets were sold out in support of HEAL Palestine.
“This benefit concert is our call for freedom and justice, a statement that we as musicians and artists will not stop using our voices for change in this world,” wrote singer-songwriter Boskasie on social media after the event.
Tanya “Mukani” Hagen, one of the organisers, said the idea for the event was to “create a container for grief”.
R260k raised for HEAL Palestine
HEAL Palestine is a US-based charity working in Gaza and the West Bank. In a pre-recorded video message shown at the concert, Dr Zeena Salman, co-founder of HEAL Palestine, thanked the artists and volunteers.
She said the organisation was formed in January 2024 in response to the crisis in Gaza. She said the group had evacuated 50 children from Gaza for critical medical care in the US and is running one of the few field hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip.
“We’re all witnessing what’s happening to Palestinians, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank,” she said.
Msaki performing at the concert.
Last week, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that since the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire in March, Israeli military operations have intensified, thousands of civilians.
The UNRWA said the health response in Gaza continues to be severely affected by damaged health facilities, restrictions on movement, and limited access to medical supplies and fuel.
This weekend, 93 Palestinians were killed while waiting for food aid in Gaza. As of 13 July, an estimated 875 people have been killed trying to get food.
According to the UN, 1.9-million people – about 90% of the population – have been displaced in Gaza.
About 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and 251 people were taken hostage.
Israel’s military response has killed almost 59,000 people and injured more than 140,000, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The Zolani Youth Choir from the small town of Ashton in the Western Cape.
This article was originally published on GroundUp.
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