Nelson Mandela would be ‘highly disappointed’ in today’s leaders, says great-grandson

globalnews.ca:

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, sits a six-meter-high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela, donated by the South African city of Johannesburg in 2016.  A reminder of the long-standing bond and kinship the Nobel Peace Prize winner shared with the Palestinian people.

“Despite South Africa being liberated from the senseless violence and oppression, he was able to recognize the fact that our freedom is not complete until the people of Palestine are free,” said Siyabulela Mandela, the great-grandson of Nelson Mandela.

The younger Mandela, an independent consultant on human rights, peace and conflict resolution, spoke with Global National’s Farah Nasser while in Toronto where he was interviewed on stage at the Journalists for Human Rights annual gala.

“I think he would be highly, highly disappointed,” he said, “in the leaders of today and the decisions that they are making insofar as what is currently happening.”

Mandela said that his great-grandfather, the first Black president of South Africa, was considered idealistic for thinking that there was a solution to apartheid in his country and people would consider it a miracle if it happened — and then it did.

“The world looked at us and marveled to see us as a miracle. It’s not a miracle, it’s two conflicting parties coming into a realization that the violence would never resolve the conflict. They ought to find alternative ways to deal with that conflict,” he said.

Nelson Mandela died in 2013, when Siyabulela was in his early 20s.  His great-grandfather’s fight for justice inspired him to complete his doctorate of psychology in international relations and conflict management at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

“One of the concerning issues is that the values that we