Israel has reportedly denied a visa for South African Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande to visit the Palestinian territories later this month. Nzimande said he had been informed of the decision by the Israeli Embassy, which returned his application without explanation. There was no immediate response from the Israeli Embassy.Nzimande expressed outrage at the decision, telling media that Israel was seeking to “minimize the number of people who can actually see what is happening on the ground.”Nzimande had been invited to Ramallah by his Palestinian counterpart from April 25-29 to discuss implementing an academic cooperation agreement between Birzeit University and the University of Johannesburg that they signed when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited South Africa in November last year.