UPDATE - South African president supports Freedom Flotilla’s humanitarian mission to Gaza

UPDATES WITH COMMENTS FROM NELSON MANDELA’S GRAND SON; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Anadolu staff

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said his country supports the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s humanitarian mission to the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

“We support the Freedom Flotilla, so we want you to know that you have our full support,’’ Ramaphosa said over the weekend.

Addressing an event in the Western Cape Province, Ramaphosa said Palestinians' right to self-determination is something very close to their hearts and they can never turn back their support.

He said the country’s first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela taught them to support the Palestinian cause for freedom and they will continue to do so.

Mandla Mandela, a grandson of South Africa’s first Black President Nelson Mandela, has joined the Freedom Flotilla taking aid to Gaza and thanked Ramaphosa and the government for their support.

“Comrades and friends, we welcome President Cyril Ramaphosa’s unequivocal support for the Palestinian struggle. We call on him and the South African government to give their full support to the freedom flotilla,” Mandela said in a video message posted on X.

Mandela said they heard that Israel would do all in its power to prevent and stop the Freedom Flotilla ship from sailing, but with the help of the world, they would be able to ensure that the aid reaches Gaza.

“We call on the South African government to enable the Freedom Flotilla to fly the South African flag and ensure that the International Court of Justice’s ruling that has ordered the humanitarian aid to be able to flow freely into Gaza is not prevented by the Zionist entity,” he said.

Mandela also called on all South Africans to assist them in ensuring that they can sail and ensure the much-needed humanitarian aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza.

During his address on the weekend, Ramaphosa said: “We will fly the flag of the Palestinians high and that is South Africa’s stand and South African people particularly, the African National Congress party.”

He also said: “We are never going to turn back from supporting the cause of the Palestinians be sure about that,’’ he said as he sought support for his ruling party ahead of the May 29 elections.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been killed are women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

South Africa, which has stood out as one of the most vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause, filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in late 2023, accusing it of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.