Return of South African Ambassador to Israel is ill-considered and an insult to Nelson Mandela’s legacy!!!
[Statement by Chief Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela MP, 24 September 2018]

Mvezo Komkhulu (The Great Place): – It is with great shock and dismay that we learn of the surreptitious and “quiet” return of the South African Ambassador Siza Ngombane to Israel. This comes after nearly 10 months of waiting for the South African government to implement the ANCs 54th NGC resolution calling for the “immediate and unconditional ” downgrade of the South African Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Amidst the unrelenting pressure from civil society structures such as BDS, that has seen unprecedented mass protests nationally in support of the downgrade and against the continued killing spree by the brutal Apartheid Israel regime over the past few months, it seems counterintuitive to reward their heinous actions.

We believe that the return of the South African Ambassador is ill-considered and sends the wrong message to our people and, especially at a time when the United Nations is honouring the life and legacy of President Nelson Mandela, we should be standing firmly by his position on Palestine. There can be no greater insult to the man who proclaimed for all the world to hear that “Palestinian struggle is the greatest moral issue of our time”.

We call on the government of the Republic of South Africa to implement the downgrade resolution unconditionally and with immediate effect. We are on record that we believe that the only moral response to Apartheid Israel’s continued acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing in occupied Palestine is a total shutdown of diplomatic relations and a complete trade and cultural boycott.

As long as the brutal Apartheid Israeli regime continues its murder of innocent women and children, the arrest of thousands of political prisoners, the denial of the right of return of six million refugees and the daily expansion of illegal Apartheid Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, we have no business in rewarding Apartheid Israel with returning of our Ambassador and normalisation of relations.

We salute the United Nations for recognising the momentous contribution of President Nelson Mandela to world peace, human rights and conflict resolution. Let the monumental statue at the UN Headquarters be a daily reminder to world leaders that the causes that he championed such as self-determination for the peoples of Palestine, Western Sahara and Kashmiri remain as yet mere resolutions and lip-service whilst the oppression and suffering persists daily.

We must in this year in which we commemorate the Nelson Mandela Centennial Celebrations (1918-2018) ensure that the world remains ever present to the cries and pains of the people of Syria, Myanmar, Yemen and remember Madiba’s words that “as long as there is one human being suffering anywhere in the world, our struggle is far from over. ”

The Royal House of Mandela (RHoM) and the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) invite the world to join us at the Africa Summit (21-24 Nov 2018) in Cape Town that will be officially opened by our President Cyril Ramaphosa honouring the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela. Let us all join together in living the legacy and be an embodiment of his heart and values. Let us work together for the South Africa of our dreams, a prosperous Africa at peace with itself and a world in which we uphold the human rights and dignity of all.

The legacy lives on!
The dream will never die!

Ends…

Nkosi Zwelivelile
Royal House of Mandela
Mvezo Komkhulu
P.O. Box 126
Viedgesville, 5102
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa