South African revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, who is vocal about the Palestinian cause, was not given a UK visa in time for his flight, sparking suspicions that his entry was banned before he could deliver a series of talks he was invited for.
Yvonne Ridley for Middle East Monitor reports that “the government has cited spurious grounds for the visa ban.” She blamed it on the pro-Israel lobby’s funding influencing more than half of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet.
Mandla has always freely travelled around the world using the diplomatic passport issued to him as an elected member of the South African government. He was scheduled to visit the UK for a nine-part series of talks during Black History Month. British Foreign Office officials questioned the validity of his diplomatic visa and hence denied him entry to the country.
Mandla’s Dublin tour is expected to take place as expected.
“It seems that there are those who are intent on preventing me from being physically with you [in Britain],” he said while adding that “the struggle against apartheid and against colonisation cannot be stopped or silenced.”
Sheffield Palestine Coalition against Israeli Apartheid condemned the decision by the foreign office, stating that Mandela’s grandson has been “prevented from travelling to the UK”.
