By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle  

The grandson of Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela, has sent a strong message to the South African government saying it can no longer stand idle while “we watch our brothers and sisters being murdered by the Zionist state of Israel”.

He was addressing thousands at a protest march to the gates of the country’s parliament in Cape Town, on Friday.

The ANC MP called on the country’s Minister of International Relations to send a clear message to President Cyril Ramaphosa that “the apartheid state of Israel’s embassy is no longer welcome in South Africa”.

He also called on the Minister of Transport to cancel the rights of Israel’s national airline, El Al, to fly into the country.

Calling on Ramaphosa to support Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in order to collapse the apartheid state, he said the president should act on his speech that he gave to the UN General Assembly in September.

Ramaphosa had told the assembly that “as long as the land of the Palestinians remain occupied, for as long as their rights are ignored and their dignity denied, (such) peace will remain elusive.”

Mandela reminded the crowd that South Africans fought their own struggle for liberation, likewise the Palestinians have a right to resist and fight.

“We call on each and every Palestinian, in your homes, your streets, your villages, you must resist and fight against the occupying regime.” He said, “Palestine will be free because your struggle is a just struggle.”

He further said Palestinians are “counting on each and every one of us to stand and be counted, like they stood side by side with us in the trenches when we fought to liberate our country.”

Mandela likened US President Joe Biden to Ronald Reagan, saying “you are supporting the wrong side of history, and history will judge you.”

He reiterated support for the Palestinian people saying, “we stand with you as we face the axis of evil, supported by the imperialist regimes and all those who support apartheid Israel and its war crimes, crimes against humanity, its ethnic cleansing in Gaza and all-over occupied Palestine.”

He said, “we will stand with you until freedom dawns.”

– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.