The grandson of late South African leader Nelson Mandela expressed his solidarity with Palestine during the opening ceremony of the 2022 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Algeria on Friday.
Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, named after his grandfather delivered a fiery speech while chanting, “Free, free Palestine.”
“Let us…remember that Madiba [a name given to Nelson Mandela] said our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of Palestine, therefore we stand together to fight for the liberation of Palestine,” he said.
“From the river to the sea, free free Palestine,” he chanted, at the backdrop of roaring crowds.
Before mentioning Palestine, Mandela also called for the liberation of the “oppressed” Western Sahara, which has been disputed by Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front backed by Algeria for decades.
“We say that, in his [Nelson Mandela] honour, let us not forget the last colony of Africa, Western Sahara, let us fight to free Western Sahara from oppression,” he said.
Algeria on Friday, January 13, kicked off of the 2022 African Nations Championship (CHAN), a biennial African national association football tournament that was first announced in 2007.
African Nations Championship is scheduled to take place between January 13 and February 4 in Algeria, with the participation of 18 African national teams divided into five group.
Who is Mandla Mandela?
Mandla Mandela was born on June 21, 1974 holds the bachelor’s degree in Politics from Rhodes University.
He served the country by becoming a member of the Parliament in 2009.
Mandla Mandela, had embraced Islam in 2015, a couple of months before marrying Raabia Clarke in an Islamic Center in Cape Town.
