Mandela’s granddaughters: ‘Apartheid was racial separation – Israel is nothing like that’

For Zamaswazi (Swati) Dlamini-Mandela and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, the journey to Israel was both personal and profound. Carrying one of the most powerful family heritages in modern history, the granddaughters of Nelson Mandela travelled to the region in October, days before a ceasefire was declared between Israel and Hamas, to see the reality for themselves.

“It’s a completely different vantage point when you’re sitting with families and victims, hearing things and seeing things,” says Swati. “Both narratives exist but being there in person changes everything.”

Their visit was organised by the National Black Empowerment Council, taking them from Yad Vashem and the ruins of Kibbutz Nir Oz to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where they spent a day distributing food and medical supplies to women and children. Along the way, they met survivors of the 7 October attacks, senior Israeli officials – and one woman whose strength, they say, will stay with them forever.

“Rachel Goldberg-Polin was extraordinary – the epitome of resilience,” says Zaziwe, recalling their meeting with the mother of 23-year-old hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was killed in Gaza. “She held on for over 300 days knowing her only son was alive, and then learnt he’d been killed. She was still smiling, still talking about peace, still hoping for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission like we had in South Africa. I was in awe of her.”

Swati adds in agreement: “She was so determined to keep fighting for the hostages who remain. She wants healing for everyone – Israelis and Palestinians. That strength gave us hope.”

The sisters’ time in Israel coincided with the two-year mark of the Hamas atrocities, an experience they describe as “horrifying” and “heartbreaking.” At the Nova music festival site and in kibbutzim on the Gaza border, they met survivors who had lost friends, parents and children. “To hear their stories face to face was devastating,” says Swati. “The scale of the loss – it’s something we’ll never forget.”

Days later, they crossed into Gaza to assist with aid distribution. “The destruction was total,” says Zaziwe. “Neighbourhoods flattened, families displaced, children deeply traumatised. But even in all that devastation, there was gratitude.”

People just wanted the war to end. Everyone we met said thank you for coming, thank you for being here.

They were struck too, by the logistics behind the humanitarian operation. “We saw Israelis, Americans and Gazans coordinating aid together,” adds Swati. “it’s something we didn’t realise had been happening long before this war. It gave us hope that cooperation is still possible.”

That hope, they say, defines their family legacy. Yet in their home country, South Africa, their trip stood in sharp contrast to their government’s stance – leading the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and hosting Hamas representatives in Pretoria.

Swati is careful but clear. “The government’s position doesn’t speak for every South African,” she says. “Our visit was humanitarian. We came to listen and to learn. What we witnessed was the pain of ordinary people, not politics.”

Both women believe their grandfather would have rejected terror “outright.”

“He stood for dialogue and unity,” says Zaziwe. “Anyone who invokes his name should remember that. He would be at the table today, trying to bring leaders together.”

Their reflections are not limited to the Middle East. When asked about conflicts across Africa – from the persecution of Christians in Congo and Nigeria to years of displacement in Sudan – they are quick to connect the dots.

“Of course, we feel responsibility,” says Swati. “There are conflicts on our own continent that have displaced millions. Some are barely covered, but it’s all human suffering. Any conflict deserves dialogue and reconciliation.”

If you can open even one person’s eyes to another perspective, you’ve changed a life. That’s part of our purpose.

But it is their unequivocal stance on the “apartheid” comparison that gives their visit its most powerful statement.

“Apartheid was government-mandated racial separation,” they say. “What we saw in Israel and Gaza is very different. There is no comparison. We witnessed communities – Jewish and Arab – living, working, marrying side by side. Equating the two misrepresents both histories.”

For the Mandela sisters, that distinction is about truth, not politics. “Our grandparents taught us to walk our own paths,” says Swati. “We’re not politicians. We just want to learn, contribute where we can and be part of something that builds, not divides.”

As the interview draws to a close, they return to their grandfather’s central lesson: forgiveness.

“One of my favourite quotes of his is when he left prison,” says Zaziwe. “’If I don’t leave everything behind me, I may as well stay in prison.’ Speaking to Rachel (Goldberg-Polin), I saw that same spirit in her. She’s living proof that forgiveness and healing are possible.”

Swati adds: “We grew up in a house that rejected hostility against any nation. We were taught to always seek peace, to unify, to love. That’s what we tried to carry with us in Israel and Gaza – humanity above all.”