PRESS INVITE: Mandla Mandela to welcome Shashi Naidoo back home today, following Israel blocking her visit to Palestine
26 July 2018 |
Nelson Mandela’s grandson and South African Member of Parliament, Chief Mandla Mandela, will welcome South African model and TV personality Shashi Naidoo back home tonight (26 July 2018). This follows Naidoo being blocked entrance to Palestine by Israeli authorities yesterday afternoon.
Members of the media are invited to a short press briefing, convened by Mandela and Naidoo, that will take place at 19h00 at the International Arrivals of O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
Statement by Mandla Mandela MP follows below:
Media Statement by Nkosi ZMD Mandela, MP
Israel shows its true Apartheid colours by denying Shashi Naidoo entry to Palestine:
Johannesburg, Thursday, 26th July 2018: We strongly condemn Apartheid Israel’s refusal of entry to Palestine for Shashi Naidoo and this reveals the true Apartheid character of the occupation.
The denial of entry shows that Apartheid Israel treats the occupied territories of Palestine as a bantustan in which it is the sole arbiter of access.
This denial is not only tantamount to an infringement of fundamental human rights, it also violates the sovereignty of the Palestinian state.
This authoritarian behaviour denies a well-known South African citizen, model, actress and TV personality, Shashi Naidoo, from “seeing for herself” the Israeli oppression against Palestinians.
This heinous act comes in the wake of Israel’s racist legislation passed recently effectively making non-jews second class citizens in the land of their birth.
We call on Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the South African government to speedily implement the downgrade resolution as an expression of our indignation at Apartheid Israel’s arrogance and acts of impunity.
The ANCs 54th NGC resolution called for immediate and unconditional action. Nearly 7 months have passed and there can be no acceptable reason for any further delay in the face of Apartheid Israel’s continued arrogance and authoritarianism.
We cannot pay lip service to Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy during this Centennial Celebrations, yet fail to act on what he considered ” the greatest moral issue of our time.”
I repeat my call for a total trade, cultural and diplomatic ban on Apartheid Israel. I wish to reiterate my call on all our BRICS partners, especially India to impose an arms embargo on Israel and to immediately stop supplying weapons and ammunition to the brutal Apartheid Israel killing machine.
We will be welcoming Sashi Naidoo back home at 19:00 and in the light of the treatment meted out to her, I call on the South African government to send the Israeli Ambassador to South Africa packing.
ENDs
Nkosi Zwelivelile
Royal House of Mandela
Mvezo Komkhulu
P.O. Box 126
Viedgesville, 5102
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa
ISSUED BY KWARA KEKANA ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA (0740543826)
