Soweto. Nelson Mandela and the Palestinians.

Mandela and the Palestinians

When we recently went to South Africa our first stop was Johannesburg. We only had a couple of days there and decided to take a tour to Soweto.

Soweto, short for South Western Township, was created by the Randlords (more about them in a moment) in order to remove the blacks from Johannesburg and to get their hands on the land they’d occupied, which was becoming more and more valuable as Johannesburg grew after the Diamond rush and the new gold mines that had developed around the city.

The Randlords were a group of extremely rich men who’d made fortunes out of the Diamond rush. A cousin of mine, Barney Barnato, was one of them. (He was my Great great great grandfather's brother-in-law).

Barney Barnato made a fortune in the Kimberley mines and sold out to Cecil Rhodes for the equivalent of £1.5 billion today. The merged company became De Beers. Barnato's Uncle, Solomon (Sol) Joel, also a Randlord, who eventually took over Barnato brothers Limited, founded Consolidated Gold and became even richer. My great aunt Bessie was the last of our family to get a small pension from the Joel Trust. 

On the way to Soweto we saw a large sign with an image of Nelson Mandela, which read, “We know too well that freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. That surprised me and I wanted to know why such a man as Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner who came from prison to be elected South Africa’s first black President, could say that.

Knowing enough of Nelson Mandela but not enough to understand his words, I was intrigued and not a little surprised when South Africa had been one of the countries who voted with some Arab counties against sanctions of Gaza.

After our tour of Soweto, where we were escorted into and around the shanty town, we visited the Regina Mundi church where protesting students fled for sanctuary when fired at by police on their way to Orlando Stadium on June 16 1976. Several hundred young students were killed.

Then we visited the Apartheid Museum and in the Museum bookshop I purchased Mandela’s autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”. If you only ever read one more book, read that one.

Now I understand why he said that freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians. To free the blacks from the cruel white minority it took a small group of men, with courage and fortitude, who only asked for freedom to live side by side with the whites in an equal and peaceful world. They took over fifty years to achieve it but they did.

Simply put, If the Palestinians had a small group of dedicated people who wanted peace, freedom and all that goes with it, they would eventually succeed. Their “White minority” is Hamas or Fatah or Hizbollah and many top and wealthy Arabs from the other neighbouring muslim countries. These fanatics are forcing peace loving, peace demanding people to do the opposite of what they want. Palestinians can live in peace with Israel and the Israelis but their “White Minority” fanatics are preventing them.

It is time some Muslims stood up to their bullying fanatics.