Mandela's grandson says he was prevented from entering UK for Palestine events
Chaos has erupted after a major nine-date speaking tour by Nelson Mandela's grandson was thrown into doubt when he did not receive a UK visa in time for his flight.
Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela has reportedly cancelled his flight to the UK, where he was due to address a series of pro-Palestine events in eight cities - Sheffield, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton - including one alongside Labour MPs.
He had been expected to speak in person at an event in Sheffield on Thursday evening to kick off his speaking tour, seen as a major event for the British pro-Palestinian activist movement.
"It seems that there are those who are intent on preventing me from being physically with you [in Britain]," he said on Thursday, adding that "the struggle against Apartheid and against colonisation cannot be stopped or silenced."
He is still expected to visit Dublin in Ireland, where his visa requirement to enter has been waived.
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Mandela, the grandson of the former South African president, was a member of parliament in the South Africa National Assembly until May this year.
A group called Sheffield Palestine Coalition against Israeli Apartheid said on Thursday morning that Mandela has been "prevented from traveling to the UK".
According to the organisation, "British officials had initially told him that his South African government passport did not require a visa to enter the UK. However, on Monday, Mandla was informed that he did require a visa.
"So far, despite high level approaches from senior ANC figures, the British embassy has not relented or issued a visa."
The organisation said that by contrast, the Irish government has "waived the visa requirement for him".
It is unclear whether, as a former MP, Mandela would still possess a diplomatic passport.
The standard processing time for a UK Standard Visitor Visa is usually around three weeks.
A Home Office spokesperson told Middle East Eye, “The UK has robust safeguards to ensure visas are only issued to those who we want to welcome to our country.”
This comes after a report in The Times last Saturday which said the Home Office faced questions about whether Mandela should be granted a visa because of his "inflammatory rhetoric".
The report quoted Andrew Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a right-wing think tank, who said: "Mr Mandela has been quite open about his support of Hamas. He has also praised Hezbollah and has close links to the Iranian regime, whilst trading on his grandfather’s name.
"It is quite demonstrably against the UK’s national interest to allow into the country someone who openly praises our terrorist enemies, a number of whom are proscribed under the Terrorism Act."
Britain considers both Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist organisations.
Support for Hamas
On 7 October 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel in which 1,139 people died and hundreds were taken hostage, Mandela said: "We support the Palestinian right to resist and call on all resistance formations to likewise support Operation Al Aqsa Flood and intensify the struggle on all fronts."
He also told the international community to "rise to the occasion and support Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in fighting their oppressor".
After Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel in Tehran in July, Mandela eulogised him as a "great leader and an inspiration to all revolutionaries and freedom fighters of the world”.
On Thursday, Mandela said: "I have been criticised for statements that I have made in support of the Palestinian Resistance and its various formations.
"We in South Africa had to learn this bitter lesson that despite the African National Congress (ANC) pursuing passive resistance for decades since its inception in 1906, the South African Apartheid regime became increasingly brutal and violent."
His grandfather, Nelson Mandela, was a strong supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was at that point considered a terrorist organisation by the US and Israel.
"It did not deter him from speaking the truth and standing for justice and human rights for all," his grandson said.
"We will stand with the people of Palestine in their just struggle against colonial occupation and theft of their lands and resources. We oppose occupation regardless of who supports it."
In a 1997 speech on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Nelson Mandela reaffirmed his support for Palestinian rights.
"We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians," he said.
In Gaza in 1999, he said he felt "at home amongst compatriots."
When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died on 11 November 2004, Mandela hailed him as "an icon in the proper sense of the word."
"He was not only concerned with the liberation of the Arab people but of all the oppressed people throughout the world - Arabs and non-Arabs - and to lose a man of that stature and thinking is a great blow to all those who are fighting against oppression."
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