International Politics

JOHANNESBURG - The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has sent a specialist team to Israel to negotiate release of six detained South African activists. 

In a short statement on Sunday afternoon, ministry Spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said: “Today, our specialist team met with the South African delegation at the Negev Israeli Prison facility.

“The delegation has confirmed the detainees are in good health and in high spirits. The necessary procedures for their safe passage and return home to South Africa are advancing steadily.” 

The six were among a group of activists sailing to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) to provide aid.

Late President Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg were among the group of over 400 activists who came from 47 countries.

Other South Africans on board are Zukiswa Wanner, Reaaz Moolla, Zaheera Soomar, Fatima Hendricks and Carrie Shelver.

The flotilla was carrying food, baby formula, medicine and volunteers to Gaza. 

The Global Movement to Gaza, a humanitarian group behind the aid, had expressed concern about the safety of the activists.

“They are still in detention. We have no information yet regarding our people. Our diplomatic mission has gone in (to where the activist are detained), because they need to be the ones to talk to our people to see that they are okay,” said Firoza Mayet from the movement. 

There have been protest for the activists to be freed. By Saturday, the GSF said 328 humanitarians remained in detention while 134 others had been freed and deported to Turkey.

“The activists’ humanitarian mission was violently crushed,” the GSF said in a statement. “From the moment of interception, all activists were held incommunicado, with communication systems jammed, some subjected to degrading treatment and water cannons.”

The raid has triggered protests worldwide and across SA, with the community of Mvezo – under Mandela’s authority in the Eastern Cape – joining demonstrations calling for the immediate release of the detained South Africans.

Carrying placards reading ‘End the genocide in Gaza’ and ‘Free Mandla Mandela’, protesters gathered outside the Mvezo Great Place alongside Mandela’s mother, Nolusapho, and his wife, Nosekeni Rabia Mandela.

“We want my son to be back home,” Nolusapho said. “We are asking the government to intervene so that my son and all other South Africans can be brought home. Israel, be human. My grandchildren are missing him.”

Nosekeni said her husband’s involvement in the flotilla reflected his lifelong solidarity with oppressed people. “My husband had to go on this mission,” she said. 

South African ministry Spokesperson Chrispin Phiri. (Pic: eNCA)