On Tuesday, the tenth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death in the capital Pretoria, senior Hamas officials paid respect to the first black president of South Africa alongside his family, as observed by AFP journalists.
One of the nations most critical of the huge and deadly Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retribution for the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7 is South Africa, a staunch backer of the Palestinian cause.
Leader of the “freedom for the Palestinians” movement Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013 at the age of 95. Israeli politicians did not attend his funeral, however foreign leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, did.
The anti-apartheid hero’s family placed a wreath in front of his statue in front of the Pretoria government building on Tuesday.
In attendance were Basem Naim, the former Health Minister for Hamas in Gaza, and Khaled Qaddoumi, a spokesman for the Iranian Islamist organisation. They had also participated in a symposium on the Israeli-Palestinian issue that Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, had convened in Johannesburg in the days prior.
“We wanted to get a first-hand look at the daily atrocities committed in Gaza,” Mandla Mandela told national broadcaster SABC.
“It was a real experience for them to be in South Africa and to learn from what we experienced with apartheid, one of the most brutal regimes on the continent, which we defeated”, he continued, adding that he wanted to continue his grandfather’s work in favour of the creation of a Palestinian state, “the great moral issue of our time”, according to Nelson Mandela.
The traditional ruling party of South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), backed a motion in the National Assembly last month demanding the closure of the Israeli embassy and the suspension of diplomatic ties in protest of the war.
Additionally, Pretoria has formally requested that the International Criminal Court look into what President Cyril Ramaphosa has called “war crimes” that Israel has committed in Gaza. On October 7, the Palestinian Islamist movement launched a brutal and unprecedented onslaught on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, starting the 60-day war between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday.
Israel reports that the attack claimed 1,200 lives, the majority of them civilians. Approximately 240 of the victims were kidnapped and transferred to the little area of Palestinian land that Hamas has controlled since 2007.
The Hamas Ministry of Health reported on Monday that 15,899 people have died, with women and children making up 70% of the total.
