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“We were shocked by how much humanitarian aid is going into Gaza each day,” Dlamini-Manaway said. “We had believed reports suggesting there was none, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
By Shula Rosen
Nelson Mandela’s granddaughters Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway and Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela have returned from a five-day humanitarian mission to Israel and Gaza, describing the experience as transformative and challenging many of their prior assumptions about the conflict.
The sisters said they felt compelled to visit after witnessing the October 7, 2023, massacre, which they called “an atrocity that shook us to the core.”
They said they wanted to show solidarity with victims of violence and gain a firsthand understanding of the realities Israelis face.
Their journey took them from the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz and the Nova music festival site to the Gaza border, where they distributed aid to more than 10,000 Palestinian women and children with the Global Humanitarian Foundation.
What they saw, Dlamini-Manaway said, bore little resemblance to media portrayals. “We were shocked by how much humanitarian aid is going into Gaza each day,” she told the Jewish Report. “We had believed reports suggesting there was none, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The sisters met Israeli President Isaac Herzog, visited Yad Vashem, and spent time with Palestinian artists, women’s groups, and Ethiopian-Israeli activists.
Their trip stood in sharp contrast to the rhetoric of their cousin, Mandla Mandela, who has accused Israel of genocide and voiced support for Hamas.
While his “flotilla stunt” to Gaza drew headlines, the sisters quietly pursued humanitarian work, saying their goal was not political. “Our cousin has his views, and we have ours,” Dlamini-Manaway said. “We came to listen, to learn, and to understand. That’s what our grandparents taught us—to see the world through others’ eyes.”
Meeting families of hostages, including Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was murdered in Gaza, left a lasting impact. “Her strength was incredible,” said Dlamini-Mandela. “She embodied grief and hope at the same time.”
Back in South Africa, where the ANC government has deepened its hostility toward Israel, the sisters’ call for empathy and balance stands out. “We saw suffering on both sides,” Dlamini-Manaway said. “But we also saw resilience and humanity. There’s still hope, and we want people to see that too.”
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