Diplomatic ties hit all-time low between Jerusalem and Pretoria
By Rolene Marks
When the dark years of Apartheid came to an end, South Africa brimmed with promise. Humanitarian icon, Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black President, resigning the previous racist regimes to the garbage bin of history. Investment poured into the country. Sports teams like the national soccer and rugby teams, blessed with that “Madiba Magic” won the African Cup of Nations and Rugby World Cup respectively. The “Rainbow Nation” had been born and the future could not be brighter.
I can’t help but think if Madiba and the other icons of the struggle against Apartheid, saw what has happened to the country they fought so hard to bring a true democracy to, where everyone is equal, they would feel not only betrayed, they would be heartbroken. The dignified examples set by these stalwarts of the struggle to pursue reconciliation and dialogue – especially with those you disagree with, have been dashed by their successors who prefer capture over cohesion and ideology over ideas.
Nothing is more emblematic of this than the recent expulsion of Israel’s highest ranking diplomat in the African state. The story is quite mind boggling.
For decades, South Africans have experienced a lack of basic services due to government incompetence. Some report having no access to water for days on end or no electricity. Many public hospitals are in disarray and in parts of the country that are poverty stricken, there is barely any access to clean water or adequate healthcare. On the contrary, the State of Israel, a leader in so many fields including Agritech, water technology, medical technology and other industries, is perfectly poised to provide solutions. Israel faces some of the same challenges that many African countries do and over the years more and more countries have sought solutions from the Jewish state. Their foreign policy stances have been resolute – why do we have to choose sides between Israelis and Palestinians when we could make decisions that benefit our people?
Go Figure! Israel’s assistance to bring drinkable water to remote villages across the Eastern Cape has been sabotaged by Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC government as being “inconsistent with solidarity with Palestine.”
It is a great pity and loss to the people of South Africa that their government’s foreign policy has been so firmly captured by the tyrannical Iranian regime that has and continues to slaughter tens of thousands of its own citizens. I do want to stress not all parties support the fanatics in Tehran whose “empire of evil” has traversed the region and beyond, leaving a trail of murderous terror attacks in their wake.
Which brings me back to Seidman. It beggars belief that in a country beset with so many challenges, the government would rather place ideological allegiances above the well-being of their citizens.
The crime that Seideman stands accused of is “a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice” that DIRCO said amounted to a direct violation of the country’s sovereignty. The reality? The embassy’s social media had criticized South Africa’s allegiance with internationally recognised terror organization Hamas. We know this was just the cover up so what was the real “crime” that had the South African authorities in a snit?
In recent weeks, Israel’s Foreign Ministry dispatched diplomat David Saranga to serve as a “visiting ambassador.” South African officials viewed the move as an attempt to impose a de facto ambassador without their approval. Declaring Seideman, the highest-ranking Israeli diplomat in the African country as persona non grata is largely seen by Israeli officials as a response to that.
Israeli officials said that under an agreement between the two countries, holders of diplomatic passports are exempt from visa requirements. This allows Israeli diplomats to enter South Africa without prior approval. They said South Africa’s objections centered on what they described as the diplomatic profile Saranga maintained during his visits.
During his trips, Saranga had visited the province of the Eastern Cape, a part of the country beset with many challenges – one being access to clean drinking water. Saranga met with the Xhosa king, a strong supporter of Israel who recently visited the Jewish state. Saranga offered Israeli solutions in the field of water management, citing shortages of running water and drinking water in parts of the country. Help was also offered for the repair of hospitals in the Eastern Cape that would give many better access to much-needed healthcare. Israeli officials said those initiatives embarrassed the South African government by highlighting deficiencies.
Israel assistance ‘upsets’ South Africa! Israeli diplomat David Saranga seen here with King Dalindyebo in the Eastern Cape where Israel is assisting in water management and other vital services and what the ANC has condemned as “counter-revolutionary”
Israel’s response was swift. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X that it was expelling a senior South African diplomat, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, in response and ordered him to leave Israel within 72 hours.
Seidman was not officially informed by DIRCO (Department of International Relations and Cooperation) – instead he found out when he was door-stopped by the media after he returned to the embassy following an event that day.
Relations between Israel and South Africa at a diplomatic level have reached an all-time low. Israel’s solution is to engage people to people. That is how we move forward.
Foreign policy does not just affect bilateral relations – it is also filtering down on a micro scale. One example is the recent refusal of elite girl’s high school, Roedean, to play tennis against King David High School. The incident attracted international headlines. Roedean denied the charge that discrimination was at play when it didn’t show up for its February 3 meeting with the King David High School girls’ team. South Africa’s Constitution protects the rights to religious freedom and the freedom of association.
A leaked recording of a conversation days later between representatives from both schools seemed to show that Roedean was under significant pressure from parents to withdraw from playing against a Jewish school. “We’re facing a bit of pressure from our community and our constituents regarding just not playing against King David,” a teacher is heard saying with a tone of regret in the recording, which was leaked a few days later. “Parents are basically saying, because of the stance that the government took, we’re supposed to support that.” The remark was a reference to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party’s anti-Israel stance.
Following a week of intense media scrutiny, the headmistress of Roedean, Phuti Mogale, resigned and the school has apologized to King David. One hopes that lessons in tolerance have been drawn from this.
Roedean Rumpas. Despite denials, explanations, and finally an apology from Roedean School (above) for refusing to play tennis against a Jewish school, smacks of nothing less than institutional antisemitism.
It is no great secret that South Africa’s foreign policy has been duly captured by Iran with their pathological hatred of the Jewish state. In post-Apartheid South Africa, one of the tenets that South Africans have been so proud of is the spirit of Ubuntu. The word “Ubuntu” is often translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity towards others“. It reflects the belief that a person’s humanity is affirmed through their relationships with others and their contributions to the community. South Africa’s Jewish community is as an integral part of the country’s mosaic of people – as is Israel in the family of nations. One hopes that the spirit of Ubuntu extends to the Jewish community who are proudly Zionist as well as Israel’s envoys who seek to find the best possible solutions to deal with the challenges so many in the rainbow nation face. Recent events have eerie echoes of a past where discrimination was the order of the day. I can’t help but cry for the beloved country. I think the founders of the post-Apartheid South Africa are crying too.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Roedean was once one of South Africa’s premier private girls schools. It was even considered a “finishing school” for the country’s future leaders.
Some of its pupils have become strong, principled, polished young women, academically formidable, able to negotiate the frays of prejudice and party politics, no matter how petty.
The gloss on that reputation has been dimming for years. Roedean now remains mired in accusations of antisemitism for failing to honour a scheduled tennis match against King David Linksfield girls on February 3, 2026.
School for Scandal. Following top private school pulling out of tennis match against Jewish school, Roedean “strongly” refuted allegations of antisemitism.
That’s even after offering what many consider a “sincere” apology in writing.
Roedean probably hopes the apology will put an end to the scandal. That’s unlikely, despite the school acknowledging that its actions “were deeply hurtful to the Jewish community.”
Roedean also conceded that its earlier public justifications of “communication challenges” for the failure to hold the match were “incorrect.”
It was not just incorrect. It was false.
Roedean admits in its apology that these “challenges” were not the cause of the cancellation of the match. It does not admit to antisemitism.
Leaked recordings of phone calls between King David principal Lorraine Srage and Roedean senior school head Phuti Mogale, who has since resigned “with immediate effect,” are revelatory.
Losing Points to Make a Point. According to King David, Linksfield principal Lorraine Srage (above), Roedean counterpart, Phuti Mogale confirmed that King David’s identity as a Jewish school led to the withdrawal and that Roedean was prepared to forfeit the league points.
Anti-Israel lobbyists either don’t or don’t want to know that in South Africa, it is not illegal (though not generally recommended) for people to record a conversation in which they are a participant for their record even if they haven’t told the other person(s).
Legal implications depend on what happens to the recordings thereafter. That’s according to RICA, (the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act 70 of 2002).
Lobbyists also ignore the fact that Srage tells Mogale upfront that she is recording and has recorded previous conversations. Mogale offers no objection whatsoever.
Who leaked the conversations and why is currently unknown. Perhaps, if Roedean had not lied publicly in statements from the outset about why it failed to honour the tennis fixture, the recordings may not have been leaked.
In one, Mogale says clearly that the failed fixture began with pressure from Roedean parents who did not want their daughters playing against King David girls because this did not align with the ANC government’s anti-Israel stance.
When a startled Srage asks whether the parental objection is because the King David girls are Jewish, Mogale confirms it. To her credit, Mogale also says she told the parents that Roedean is “apolitical.” That clearly didn’t wash with the parents.
The mere fact that some supposedly well‑educated, influential Roedean parents would treat the ANC’s foreign‑policy posturing as a moral compass is a plot twist even Kafka might have rejected as implausible.
Gate ‘Closed’. King David girls’ tennis team arrived at Roedean for their scheduled match on February 3 to find the match had been cancelled due to students feeling “uneasy” about playing against Jews. It was initially spined as their students “having other commitments” and “miscommunication”.
The same ANC refuses to condemn its close ally, Iran, for slaughtering more than 30,000 of its own people, many of them teenagers in the streets during the ongoing uprising.
Roedean has turned to PR spin doctors to handle the fallout from the failed tennis match. They’ve wasted their money.
The school first claimed in writing that the tennis match was cancelled due to “prior school commitments” and “compulsory academic workshops” and that this was “miscommunicated” to King David. Its first apology was on that basis alone.
That was disingenuous, as phone conversations showed.
EMPTY COURT
Roedean communicated clearly to King David the day before the match that all contentious issues were resolved and the match was going ahead. On that basis, King David girls turned up to play tennis against Roedean. On arrival, they were greeted by an empty court.
Mogale didn’t help herself or Roedean by claiming in conversation that the girls themselves didn’t want to play the match as they were still suffering “distress” and “trauma” after visiting King David’s campus last year to play tennis.
That raised the question: what on earth happened on King David campus to distress and traumatise them?
Mogale is heard saying (to a presumably gobsmacked Srage) that the sight of armed guards outside at King David’s school entrance had “disturbed” the girls. She’d have been wise to stop there.
Excuses Exposed. Following public outrage and accusations of antisemitism, Roedean principal Phuti Mogale (above) resigns as school apologises to King David School acknowledging that “its actions were hurtfull to the Jewish community.”
Instead, she said the girls were also “traumatised” by seeing posters on King David campus. Poster of hostages, including children, babies and the elderly, still in captivity in Gaza after the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas against mostly civilian targets in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The problem for Roedean is that there was nothing distressing or traumatising whatsoever about the posters.
They were not images of bloodied young women dragged by their hair after being raped by terrorists, of children and babies in their pyjamas, tortured, mutilated, torn from their parents’ arms and homes.
The posters were of happy, smiling people before their savage kidnapping on October 7. Families supplied the photographs to raise awareness of the hostages’ ongoing plight in Gaza.
One might reasonably have expected Roedean’s tennis coach to have easily soothed the girls’ ruffled, sensitive feathers with non-distressing facts.
Facts, such as, that King David schools don’t post guards at their gates because they like the optics; armed guards outside Jewish schools as a sign that South Africa is a dangerous place for Jews; and antisemitic attacks are a real threat to Jews worldwide.
One would also reasonably expect Mogale not to have been so absurdly theatrical and hyperbolic in describing the feelings the posters evoked in Roedean girls as a “trauma”.
The only real trauma behind those posters was that suffered by hostages and their families and friends. Not the Roedean girls. Such moral inversion is as mystifying as it is a common driver of antisemitism.
National director of the South African Jewish Board of deputies Wendy Kahn is clear that the incident on Roedean campus on February 3 was blatant antisemitism.
“prejudice, hatred or discrimination directed against Jewish people, identity or institutions.”
She says that phone conversations make clear that the tennis fixture was a “Jewish day school issue” and that King David’s identity, like that of other faith-based schools, is based on the religious, cultural and historical life of the community it serves.
Roedean’s refusal to honour a sporting fixture based on the players’ Jewish identity, therefore, “constitutes an antisemitic act and is discrimination based on religion,” Kahn says.
It clearly violates South Africa’s constitution.
Section 9 of the constitution, as Kahn notes, provides that:
“No person may be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly, on the grounds of religion, belief or culture.”
Roedean’s leaders should have known that.
Anti-Israel lobbyists have been predictably quick to support the Roedean pupils’ refusal to play against Jews. One lobbyist said that students who raised “principled concerns about war, state violence or ideology” should not be made to feel that these were “illegitimate or hateful.”
That’s true but that’s not what King David was making Roedean pupils feel.
After all, Roedean had not expressed any “principled concerns” that the Roedean pupils had. Just intimations of miasmic “distress and trauma” at seeing armed guards and posters of happy faces.
Roedean’s tennis-match debacle does not exist in religious, political isolation.
In 2020, Roedean was one of several schools hit by waves of social media testimonials from alumni detailing experiences of institutional racism. Activists and ANC-aligned commentators criticised Roedean for being “too slow” to change and for maintaining a “colonial” culture that excluded Black students. White students also felt under pressure.
In 2023, Roedean invited the Ummah Al-Rahma madrasah to provide religious, spiritual programming – Ummah Heart – on its campus for Muslim pupils. It spun the initiative as a gesture of inclusivity.
It signalled something darker: a willingness to outsource moral judgment to the loudest ideological faction in the room.
The madrasah’s public record and associations had already drawn significant criticism and concern. It was accused of expressing sympathy and support for Hamas, including sharing or endorsing material aligned with Hamas and other jihadist causes.
That represented “school capture” as South African attorney and essayist Richard Wilkinson has argued. Roedean was not just accommodating Muslim pupils within a pluralist, school‑controlled framework. It was outsourcing part of its religious curriculum to a “fundamentalist Islamic provider.”
Critics have warned of the perils of combining ‘woke’, diversity rhetoric with a hard‑line madrasah. It allows reactionary, radical and religious politics to shelter under the language of “true inclusivity and belonging,” while narrowing the space for dissenting or minority views – particularly Zionist or even just openly Jewish ones.
Appeasing a particular worldview, including one openly sympathetic to a terrorist organisation, is not a smart move and not just for schools. Bringing a Hamas-aligned group onto any campus normalises rather than challenges a climate in which Jewish pupils are already vulnerable – and in which ANC‑style, anti‑Israel agitation quickly slides into open antisemitism.
To its credit, Roedean allowed the partnership to peter out. However, failing to honour a simple tennis fixture with Jewish schoolgirls has put its credibility and moral scruples again under a microscope that may linger.
It signals more school “capture”. It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to work out where that can lead. It’s where ringing calls to “globalise the intifada” bring us.
Roedean statements, prepared and distributed by its PR company, Flow Communications, have been a study in obfuscation, euphemism and sophistry, beginning with the opening line of its February 10 offering: “We will place the best interests of young people first.”
Roedean demonstrably did not place the interests of its own “young people” first in this incident. It trampled over the interests of King David’s young people.
The only interests it did place first were those of the (hopefully) minority of staff, unnamed parents and students who don’t want to play sport against Jews.
Roedean has “engaged an independent party to review allegations.” It has also engaged “an independent facilitator to work with our students to resolve their concerns fairly and respectfully.”
If there really was no antisemitism involved, then why the need for an “independent facilitator” to resolve students’ “concerns”?
And if concerns mean some Roedean girls don’t want to play tennis against Jews, they will have a problem in future. There are Jews in private schools other than King David. Presumably, Roedean girls won’t be asking every schoolgirl they face on sports fields whether or not she is Jewish?
Roedean’s apology on February 12 was a good move but did not go far enough. It does speak of intentions to learn from mistakes made. However, repairing the damage will require more than facilitated dialogues and public-relations-spun messaging.
It requires ensuring unequivocal future action to ensure that prejudice, discrimination and antisemitism, whether dressed up as politics, “distress”, “trauma” or scheduling confusion, will never again decide who is allowed onto Roedean’s sports fields.
Sport should be a crucible where differences are put aside. Women’s tennis, in particular, has a rich history of breaking barriers and fostering respect across lines of class, race, religion and nationality.
To see that ideal undermined by a narrative that says “we won’t play against you because of who you are, your religion, what you think” is to witness the descent of sport into the tribalism it should transcend.
Tennis is a simple game. Serve, rally, score. It requires focus, the ability to reset after a lost point and, crucially, respect for your opponent.
In contrast, Roedean’s handling of its tennis fixture with King David was all fault and no reset – a series of clumsy, unforced errors in strategy, empathy and communication.
It leaves Roedean with scrambled linguistic egg on its face. It has spawned a satirical, informal verb in the urban dictionary: Erodean.
It is defined as “stripping credibility from an institution by knowingly recasting antisemitic exclusion or hostility as a neutral, administrative error, while shifting responsibility onto the Jewish person affected, despite clear, contrary evidence”.
Here’s an example of common usage:
“Watching institutions attempt to erodean their way out of accountability has become a disturbingly familiar pattern.”
About the writer:
Marika Sboros is a South African freelance investigative journalist with decades of experience writing fulltime for the country’s top media titles on a wide range of topics. She started her career as a hard-news reporter in the newsroom of the now defunct Rand Daily Mail, a campaigning anti-government newspaper during the worst excesses of the apartheid era. She commutes between South Africa and the UK.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
South Africa’s expulsion of Israel’s top diplomat in the country,
Ariel Seidman, is also a prime example of the African National Congress (ANC) government’s hypocrisy and double standards whenever Israel and Jews get in its way.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) used the phrase, persona non grata, in announcing Ariel Seidman’s expulsion. The phrase has a pleasing, operatic ring to it – all Latin flourish and sovereign gravitas.
It is one of the “most serious tools in a state’s diplomatic repertoire,” says DA international relations spokesman, Ryan Smith. It is usually reserved for cases of espionage, security threats or serious breaches of international law.
Not the petty, public, political spat behind Seidman’s expulsion.
Truth be Told. While the wording of the reason furnished for the expulsion was “Inconsistent with diplomatic norms and protocol” it could have more accurately been explained as “consistent with the ANC’s policy of hatred against the Jewish state.”
If DIRCO meant the phrase to evoke images of strength and sovereign gravitas, it failed miserably.
It evokes images of ragged Eastern Cape children forced to walk kilometres for water when they should be in school; of patients of all ages, suffering unnecessarily, dying prematurely in under-resourced, badly maintained hospitals; and of fat-cat adults in Pretoria patting themselves on the back for defending a thin-skinned leader’s hurt feelings.
DIRCO has formally packaged its case for expelling Seidman in a way that is unfettered by robust evidence.
It has alleged a sustained campaign of “offensive” attacks on President Cyril Ramaphosa on social media, and “gross abuse” of diplomatic protocol and privilege affecting South Africa’s “sovereignty”.
Hardly Clean Hands! Duplicitous and devious, South Africa’s President Ramaphosa takes extreme and unwarranted action against Israel’s head diplomat in Pretoria for alleged transgressions, while the truth lies entirely elsewhere.
The most concrete “evidence” it came up with so far to buttress its claims against Seidman is two posts in November 2025 on the official Israeli Embassy X (formerly Twitter) account. Neither carries Seidman’s name.
As Chargé D’Affaires, Seidman oversees the embassy’s official X and other social media accounts. DIRCO could easily have cut him diplomatic slack by addressing the messages in the “offending” posts.
Venomous Verbiage. South Africa’s ruling party fosters a mood of antisemitism by its foreign policy towards Israel that manifests in the wording on posters like this (above) at this protest outside Israel’s embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on October 3, 2025. (Photo: Esa Alexander/Reuters)
Instead, it chose to axe the messenger.
The first post targets South Africa’s multimillion-rand lawsuit launched against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a genocide charge in December 2023. That was just weeks after a genuine genocidal attack by the Iran-backed terror group Hamas against mainly civilian targets in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
That attack left 1200 dead, including children and babies, more than 6000 injured and more than 250 kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages. Hostages included infants, toddlers, young children and the elderly.
The post reads:
“Value for money? The South African Gov’t has thrown away R100 million attacking Israel at the ICJ – with another R500 million to be wasted next year. 0% of value for South Africans, 100% political theatre.”
The second post responds to Ramaphosa’s comment that “boycott politics don’t work.” He made it after US President Donald Trump’s decision not to attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November 2025.
The post calls the comment a “rare moment of wisdom and diplomatic clarity from President Ramaphosa,”adding: “We totally agree…”
Were those posts sarcastic? Yes. Unsubtle? Undoubtedly. Worthy of expulsion? Definitely not.
If sarcasm were a deportable offence, half of all diplomats on X would be back home by lunchtime.
The fact is that South Africa has made opposition to Israel a defining feature of its foreign-policy identity. It has downgraded relations, pursued its highly politicised ICJ case against Israel and aligned with extremists in the pro-Palestinian movement who increasingly move beyond policy critique into outright rejection of Israel’s moral standing as a state.
It remains deafeningly silent on the ongoing massacre of innocents, including many children in their teens, by its close ally, Iran.
Ramaphosa did call for “restraint on both sides” recently. That doesn’t cut much moral or diplomatic ice.
Close alignment with Tehran’s jihadist mullahs alone should have been sufficient for DIRCO to be politically circumspect when dealing with common enemies.
After all, it’s one thing to support best buddies going through tough times. It’s quite another to support them when they mass-murder their own people in the streets for the “crime” of publicly protesting against injustice and oppression.
The mullahs plaintively claim to have killed “only” 3116 citizens so far during the uprising, claiming that most were “terrorists”.
I can’t recall so many young, gorgeous, talented, cultured “terrorists” ever being slaughtered in broad daylight by a bunch of medieval-looking, Islamist extremists acting just like genocidal fanatics.
The closest I can come is the more than 300 beautiful young people attending a music festival for peace, who were among the more than 1200 civilians that Hamas tortured, slaughtered, beheaded, burnt alive and mass raped on October 7.
Hamas tried claiming that most concert-goers were its idea of “terrorists” – serving soldiers in Israel’s IDF. That proved nonsensical, as have so many of Hamas’s claims against Israel proved.
The estimated number of civilians massacred in the Iran uprising stands at more than 30,000, as cited by Time magazine in the US and The Guardian in the UK. That’s according to leaked hospital and security‑agency data, including a network of Iranian doctors whose hospital‑record tally of protest‑related deaths reached 30,304 up to January 8 to 9, 2026.
Hundreds of thousands more have been injured, many grievously, or are “missing”.
The numbers are climbing into the stratosphere.
One wonders how high they must go before the ANC finds the moral backbone to sever ties with its ally.
The trigger to Seidman’s exit most likely lies in the invitation from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to South Africa’s AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, to visit Israel in December 2025.
The king is a cousin of former president Nelson Mandela and leader of the Thembu people in the Eastern Cape. In Israel, he met Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and other officials. He learned of advances in Israel’s technology, agriculture and water management.
Ramaphosa’s Revenge. Defying the South African government’s hostility towards Israel, images of Nelson Mandela’s cousin, King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo visiting in Jerusalem in December, 2025 with Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, was too much for the vengeful and short-sighted South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
His visit did not go down well with the ANC back home.
Nor did the reciprocal visit in late January 2026, by senior Israeli officials, accompanied by embassy staff, where they met the king and more than 50 traditional leaders in Mthatha.
They openly discussed potential assistance with water infrastructure, healthcare and education. They visited hospitals and engaged universities and community leaders.
There was no fanfare. No ribbon-cutting. No ANC branding.
Israel framed the visits as building “people-to-people” ties, and a humanitarian initiative to supply potable water in an impoverished region.
The poor in the Eastern Cape saw Israel as offering longed-for relief.
The King’s spokesperson agreed. She called Seidman’s expulsion:
“an attack on his people and an attempt to prevent assistance that the government has struggled and failed to provide.
“Our relationship with the Israeli Embassy is one we hold very close to our heart, as they have managed to help our people in a way that the South African government has not been able to do.”
That sentence alone should have prompted national introspection. Predictably, ANC leaders were outwardly wrathful.
DIRCO and the provincial leadership called the king’s support for Israeli assistance “sinister”. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula called it a “betrayal” and “surprising departure” from South Africa’s solidarity with Palestinians.
Mbalula invoked the exile and liberation legacy of the king’s father, the late King Sabata Dalindyebo, to rebuke the son – as though inherited struggle credentials, not present-day responsibility, should determine who may bring water to the Eastern Cape
Support for Seidman’s expulsion has come from other elevated sources, including civil society “royalty”, among them Gift of the Givers founder and CEO Dr Imtiaz Sooliman.
Sooliman is not merely a humanitarian actor on the world philanthropy stage. He is among the most politically connected figures in South Africa’s NGO landscape. He boasts long-standing access to senior government leaders, as photos on his charity’s website and Facebook page routinely show.
Presidents praise him. Ministers consult him. His voice carries influence well beyond global disaster zones.
In June 2025, Ramaphosa appointed Sooliman a member of the loftily titled Eminent Persons Group to guide and champion South Africa’s National Dialogue initiative.
Sooliman operates in a fertile, political environment at the highest levels. His ecosystem includes former DIRCO head Naledi Pandor, now head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, current DIRCO director-general Zayne Dangor and former South African ambassador to the US Ibrahim Rasool.
Cyril’s Choice. Expelling the Israeli diplomat was applauded by the much influential Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, closely associated with South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa who identifies “We are all Hamas” and has said that Zionists – which most South African Jews identify as – are “ too clever….. arrogant….They run the world with fear,” and “They control the world with money.”
It is premised on broad-based, pre-existing hostility to Israel. It pervades the ANC, as Mbalula himself has openly acknowledged.
Sooliman publicly endorsed DIRCO’s decision with a post on his charity’s Facebook page. It reads:
“We commend DIRCO and the South African Government for taking a decisive, principled stand. As South Africans, we reject injustice, occupation, and the killing of civilians, and we oppose policies that result in the suffering and starvation of innocent people. Accountability, human rights, and international law must prevail.”
That’s a striking statement, not least because Gift of the Givers has for years been directly involved in disaster response and water and drought relief in South Africa and globally, often stepping in where states failed.
His record gives him unusual credibility to separate humanitarian necessity from geopolitical hostility.
Instead of being a moderating influence, Sooliman added fuel to fire of anti-Israel sentiment. He helped to collapse a discussion about water, healthcare and poverty into heated ideological confrontation.
That collapse quickly spawned public sloganeering by extremist anti-Israel lobbyists, riling up their base to reject “Israel’s bloody aid” and “bloody water”. Their ire aimed predictably at “Zionists” – the anti-Israel lobby’s code word for Jews.
It raises questions about the extent to which such framing has contributed to the broader political climate of over-reaction that caused Seidman’s expulsion.
DIRCO’s decision did not emerge in a vacuum. It unfolded within an environment primed to treat Israel not merely as uniquely illegitimate but also “evil” and, therefore, undeserving of diplomatic latitude.
Context gives meaning to actions. Expelling a diplomat for sarcasm, humanitarian engagement and inconvenient assistance looks less like principled diplomacy and more like ideological enforcement. Especially when set against a selective moral compass.
In a country where foreign policy, NGO advocacy and ruling-party ideology increasingly merge, it is reasonable to examine how moral narratives gain traction and shape outcomes.
Undeserved criticism risks shading into delegitimisation and, at its edges, something darker.
It makes South Africa a more dangerous place for Jews!
It leaves a question hanging in the ether:
When expert help is available to relieve the suffering of millions of South Africans in impoverished rural areas, why would anyone want to deny access to it?
About the writer:
Marika Sboros is a South African freelance investigative journalist with decades of experience writing fulltime for the country’s top media titles on a wide range of topics. She started her career as a hard-news reporter in the newsroom of the now defunct Rand Daily Mail, a campaigning anti-government newspaper during the worst excesses of the apartheid era. She commutes between South Africa and the UK.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Behind the polished façade, the “gifts” of Gift of the Givers has a price tag.
By Allan Wolman
Back in the 1950s, The Platters made a hit song called The Great Pretender. Over the decades it was revived by any number of performers — most memorably Freddie Mercury in 1987. Since then, the world has never been short of “great pretenders”, not only on the entertainment stage but very prominently on the political one, where the list of contenders is endless.
Today I want to propose the greatest of the modern-day “Great Pretenders”: none other than Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, a man who has pulled the wool over an entire nation’s eyes and risen to become South Africa’s most admired humanitarian — both at home and abroad.
Parallel Power. Why is this man – Imtiaz Sooliman – treated by the media as a minster?
With every natural or man-made disaster anywhere in the world, Gift of the Givers is among the first to appear on the scene, ensuring their efforts are rewarded with generous front-page coverage — complete with a full-colour photograph of the good doctor in his trademark green shirt and boldly displayed logo. Not to mention the tsunami of philanthropical donations he attracts.
Sooliman has once again made headlines, this time regarding the mysterious “unknown aircraft” that recently landed at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. I urge you to read this excellent exposé posted on Facebook by Ivor Blumenthal:
*[Editor’s note: Soon after this article was written, South Africa revoked visa-free access for Palestinian passport holders. Taking its cue from Sooliman’s outrageous initial accusation, the SA government followed blindly reiterating the antisemitic rhetoric of the Gift of the Givers CEO by speculating without substantiation that the mystery flight is an Israeli plot to ethnically cleanse Gaza.]
The South African media should hang their heads in shame. But as the obedient mouthpiece of a rotten and corrupt government, that same media — devoid of morality, integrity, or even the most basic sense of journalistic honesty — would never dare venture into the territory that exposes who and what this organisation really is — and, more importantly, what the man’s true agenda appears to be.
Over decades, Imtiaz Sooliman has cultivated an image of saintly benevolence, rushing from one disaster zone to the next, dispensing aid and compassion with no political or ideological motive, (I also once believed in the tooth fairy). Very few people living a ‘humble’ lifestyle could command aircrafts and other costly facilities at a moment’s notice, but Gift of the Givers opens more doors than presidents and monarchs. Scratch even lightly beneath the surface and a very different picture emerges — one of a shrewd operator who understands perfectly how to manipulate optics, press coverage, and public sentiment.
Unapologetic Law Breaker. In his own words, this man is a law unto himself.
BLOWING THE WHISTLE However, the true face of Sooliman and his Gift of the Givers is being revealed not by the media but by ordinary folk – non-Muslims – who not only see through but experience the ‘packaged’ deception. Watch the video clip below of a South African woman exposing the true face on this so-called Muslim human rights organization that weaponizes food aid by tying it to conversion. Her outrage disabuses the polished public image of Gift of the Givers, exposing it for leveraging hunger as a recruitment tool for Islam. It has been reported that food parcels have been distributed exclusively to Muslims, while vulnerable Christian families were told they will “get more” if they embrace Islam. Behind the polished façade, the “gifts” of Gift of the Givers has a price tag.
Gift of the Givers is a slick well-oiled reputational machine, capitalizing on every episode of suffering that Sooliman exploits to the full creating another opportunity for branding, hero-worship, and political leverage. The green shirt is no accident; it is a uniform designed for instant recognition, ensuring that Sooliman himself — not the cause, not the victims — becomes the headline.
And here’s where the media and gullible public looks the other way, ignoring the company this man keeps. He has no shame aligning himself to radical Islamic causes, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah and ISIS, openly stating on national television that he adheres to only one law, NOT the law of the land. That’s a statement that goes beyond mere arrogance, but showing his middle finger to his country and the world.
The False Humanitarian. At a protest against Israel in Cape Town on the 5 October 2024, ‘humanitarian’ charity ‘Gift of the Givers’ founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman stood beneath this banner “WE ARE ALL HAMAS” and engaged in antisemitic conspiracy theories, railing against Israel and Jews who “run the world with fear … and control the world with money”.
Aligning himself with the ANC ‘s agenda of open hostility to Israel and the Jewish people has elevated his stature within South Africa’s political elite affording him a hotline to government ministers who comply to his demands. All this while the media tip-toes around the mysterious aircraft incident at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport and allows Sooliman and his cunningly crafted ‘humanitarian’ Gift of the Givers to weaponize their aims.
Behind the veneer of humanitarianism, a toothless media lacking courage and hiding the truth from the public, feeds the man and his hidden agenda.
Asserting this point, Tim Flack writes in BizNews (8 December), that institutions in South Africa today:
“…have grown weak and individuals with charismatic branding have filled the void. Sooliman is the clearest example of this trend. He speaks like a minister, moves like a minister, negotiates like a minister, and is treated by the media as if he has the democratic legitimacy of a minister.
But he does not.
He is unelected. He is unappointed. He is unaccountable. And the country has quietly allowed him to operate as a parallel authority in everything from refugee management to foreign policy interpretation.
This is not humanitarianism. It is governance without consent.”
Its time for the media to do their job and expose the true aims behind the façades ofDr. Imtiaz Sooliman and his Islamic charity – Gift of the Givers.
About the writer:
Allan Wolman in 1967 joined 1200 young South Africans to volunteer to work on agricultural settlements in Israel during the Six Day War. After spending a year in Israel, he returned to South Africa where he met and married Jocelyn Lipschitz and would run one of the oldest travel agencies in Johannesburg – Rosebank Travel. He would also literally ‘run’ three times in the “Comrades”, one of the most grueling marathons in the world as well as participate in the “Argus” (Cape Town’s famed international annual cycling race) an impressive eight times. Allan and Jocelyn immigrated to Israel in 2019.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Fear that independent scrutiny will expose false narratives, Israel’s opponents discourage “See for Yourself” visits to the Jewish state.
By Kenneth Kgwadi
In one of the most influential TED Talks to date, acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explores:
“The Danger of a Single Story.”
She argues that to truly understand any event or conflict, one must consider multiple perspectives; relying on a single narrative inevitably leads to distortion and misunderstanding. Her message is particularly relevant to the Israel/Palestine debate, where too many overlook or dismiss Israel’s story while presenting Palestine as the sole victim.
The recent visit to Israel by King Dalindyebo of the AbaThembu nation illustrates this dynamic clearly. His trip triggered criticism from individuals who seem determined to prevent others from examining the facts for themselves. Instead of encouraging open inquiry and balanced engagement, these voices prefer that the public adopt their preferred narrative – one that portrays Israel as the villain through carefully crafted misinformation and propaganda. Their response reveals an underlying fear:
that independent observation may contradict the narrative they have worked hard to entrench.
The fiercest critics of Israel often rely on claims of apartheid, genocide, and other exaggerated allegations that do not align with the realities on the ground. Deep down, these naysayers fear that independent scrutiny will expose the inconsistencies in their narrative. Every year, numerous individuals and delegations travel to Israel on fact-finding missions to see, experience and decide for themselves on the reports and agenda-driven narratives presented by international, local and social media. It would be profoundly irresponsible to accept these narratives at face value without challenging the claims and allegations for accuracy, context, as well as the agendas of those who disseminate them. Hence the immense importance of visits.
Royal Visit. A cousin of the late Nelson Mandela, His Majestiy King Buyelekaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo of the AbaThembu Kingdom in South Africa meets with Israeli President, Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem.
Tensions between governments — such as those of South Africa, Israel, and the United States — should not influence the relationships between ordinary people in these countries. Communities should not be vilified for cooperating across borders simply because their governments disagree politically. Human connection is often driven by shared histories, mutual interests, and collective aspirations, not by diplomatic rifts.
It was in this spirit that King Dalindyebo chose to visit Israel and engage directly with Israeli officials. As a leader, he sought firsthand clarity on the long-standing conflict rather than relying solely on secondhand accounts crafted by the media. His decision reflects a commitment to informed leadership: he wanted to see the situation with his own eyes, hear directly from those involved, and explore opportunities to build constructive relationships for the benefit of the people he leads.
STANCE OF SILENCE
What is particularly troubling about South Africa’s foreign policy under President Cyril Ramaphosa is the growing inconsistency that seems to define it. On the surface, the country presents itself as a defender of human rights across the world, most notably through its strong support for the Palestinian cause. However, this principled stance is not applied consistently. In many parts of the world, innocent and defenceless people are being killed by oppressive regimes, yet South Africa remains largely silent.
A few weeks ago, hundreds of people were reportedly killed in post-election conflict in the Republic of Tanzania, a fellow member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Despite the seriousness of this crisis, South Africa took no meaningful action to hold those responsible to account. The same can be said about Sudan, where acts of genocide are unfolding before our very eyes on television, but no steps have been taken to sanction or pressure those who are responsible. Zimbabwe presents another example: for years, the ruling ZANU-PF has violated the human rights of ordinary Zimbabweans, forcing millions to flee the country in search of safety and economic security. Yet Pretoria has maintained a stance of silence and non-intervention.
Tragedy in Tanzania. Far closer to home than Gaza, hundreds of protesters and others have been killed and an unknown number injured or detained in Tanzania following recent elections according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), yet South Africa has not taken any action as it did against Israel.
This pattern of selective condemnation raises important questions about what truly drives South Africa’s foreign policy and undermines its claim to moral authority on the global stage. Blasted by so much mis and disinformation, the global ill-informed fail to understand that Israel is a functioning democracy, defined by an independent media, judiciary, executive, and parliament (Knesset), each operating without interference from the other. This is precisely why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently facing corruption charges: the institutions of state have the autonomy to hold even the highest office-bearers to account. The left-leaning newspaper Haaretz is a clear example of a vocal and critical media outlet that conducts its work without fear or favour, often challenging government actions and policies in the strongest of terms.
Sudanese Suffering. While South Africa’s foreign minister was quick to call the Hamas leader following its orchestrated massacre in Israel on October 7 2023 to “offer support”, masses of displaced civilians on its own continent such as in war-torn Sudan (above) is of less concern. (Photo: AFP/via Getty Images)
VISIT AND VERIFY
There is a danger, like in all conflicts, of spreading lies to control the narratives, and people should be aware of that. Hence it is important indeed, essential for opinion makers, journalists, researchers, and all those who work in the business of information and knowledge to visit Israel and tell the story as it truly is, rather than relying on narratives circulated by others who may have political agendas to advance.
First-hand experience remains the most reliable antidote to misinformation.
Meeting with fellow South Africans. Unlike South Africa’s ANC leaders who showed no concern for South African-born Jews killed in Israel as a result of the attack from Gaza, His Majesty, AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo met with Rabbi Doron Perez (right), father of Daniel Perez, South African born 22-year-old who was killed on October 7 during the Hamas attack, and his body was held in Gaza for nearly two years.
About the writer:
Kenneth Kgwadi is a research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI).
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
The University of Cape Town (UCT) was once a glittering jewel in South Africa’s – and the African continent’s – academic crown.
No longer.
That’s thanks to UCT’s unedifying recent history of being held to ransom by students and staff pushing political and ideological agendas.
It has become as one writer put it, “a public university applauding the removal of Jews from a space they helped build, under the polite cover of modern political language.”
UCT’s Council is its “supreme governing body responsible for policy, strategic direction and ensuring sound governance and financial sustainability,” As such, it should be a bulwark against institutional capture.
Cry the Beloved Campus. The 2024 Israel Apartheid Week at UCT saw present senior representatives from the ANC, Al Jama-ah, the EFF, and Palestinian Solidarity Campaign where taunts and insults were directed at Jews such as: “Child killers”; “We are Hamas”; “October 7 will happen again”; “You f**king b*tch”; and “I will place your photo all over this campus you P*es”.
However, one of its Council members, Dianna Yach, has become embroiled in yet more public controversy that is chipping away at that bulwark. Yach faces scrutiny after UCT’s abrupt announcement on October 30, 2025, that it was switching off life support after 56 years for its “most cherished cultural landmark,” the Irma Stern Museum. The spotlight is on Yach’s role as Chair of UCT’s Irma Stern Museum Committee at the time of UCT’s decision to sever its ties with the museum.
As a Council member, Yach is already mired in damaging allegations, including lying under oath and serious breach of fiduciary duties, in a landmark lawsuit launched by Prof Adam Mendelsohn, head of UCT’s Department of Historical Studies.
Mendelsohn launched the lawsuit after UCT adopted the so-called “Gaza conflict resolutions” in June 2024. A ruling is expected early next year.
POLITICAL, IDEOLOGICAL EXPEDIENCY
UCT’s decision to sever support for the Irma Stern Museum came as a shock to supporters. Stern is widely acknowledged as one of South Africa’s most prolific and powerful artists, one who played a leading role in introducing avant-garde art to the country.
Some saw UCT’s decision as political and ideological expediency. UCT compounded that by shrouding the decision in secrecy, ratifying it on October 18 and only announcing it after being called out publicly.
Preservation concerns have centred over structural deterioration and maintenance challenges of housing Stern’s collection in The Firs, her Cape Town home since 1927. Reports of the collection now in “secure storage” pending uncertain refurbishment plans have fuelled fears of irreparable damage to the irreplaceable integrity of South Africa’s only artist’s house museum.
Heritage researcher Phillippa Duncan has described UCT’s decision as yet more “cultural bloodletting” and “a systematic lack of respect for history, older buildings and objects that require care.”
Stern’s whiteness and Jewishness made things “a little more difficult” by “not fitting in with UCT’s political conversations,” Duncan says. She does not believe that race and religion were “primary triggers” for UCT’s decision.
Jews Unwelcome. What kind of ‘safe’ environment is it for Jewish students at UCT when (as captured on video) a demonstrator, smacked the kippah (a traditional Jewish head covering) off a student’s head, while he was praying, and when confronted refused to apologise?
HIVE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
I think that’s charitable. The primary triggers may lie, more likely, in the hive of conflicts of interest buzzing under the many different hats Yach wears.
Among others, Yach chairs UCT’s Human Resources (HR) Committee; is a member of the UCT Remuneration and Governance Committees; serves “by invitation” on UCT Law Faculty’s Law Clinic Advisory Board; and is one of Council’s two Senate-elected donor representatives.
She is also the Chairperson and the executive director of the Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF) Board, one of South Africa’s oldest Jewish, philanthropic organisations and a donor to UCT and the Irma Stern Museum for decades.
That places Yach squarely in the crosshairs of overlapping donor and governance roles, with duties and loyalties to UCT and the MFF potentially pulling in different directions.
Her maternal grandfather, Morris Mauerberger, an industrialist and a committed Zionist, founded the MFF in the late 1930s. His philanthropy included regular support for Zionist organisations and projects that strengthened Israel’s infrastructure and education.
Felling a Family Legacy. A proud Zionist was the late Morris Mauerberger, one of South Africa’s leading industrialists and Jewish philanthropists whose Mauerberger Foundation supported a multitude of causes in Israel but is today managed by his granddaughter Diana Yach who some critics believe is not following the path he forged for MFF support for the Jewish state.
Mauerberger’s will expressly allocated half of the MFF funds in perpetuity to Israel, the other half split equally between South African Jewish and non-Jewish communities.
The MFF’s decades-long support for Israeli projects includes:
– the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
– theTechnion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa (where there is a Mauerberger building) and
– direct involvement in establishing Ben Gurion University of the Negev in 1969.
Lasting Legacy. The Mauerberger name is proudly embedded in the hills of Haifa in shaping education and research in the Mauerberger Building at Israel’s prestigious Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel oldest university and with four Nobel laureates having been associated with the university.
RED FLAGS WAVING
Yach took over as MFF executive director in 2013. Since then, she has appeared intent on taking the MFF down a different path from the straight and narrow one her grandfather forged – if wildly waving red flags are any indication.
One red flag is her support, well-documented in court papers on public record in Mendelsohn’s lawsuit, for the Gaza resolutions.
The boycott includes, by implication, all tertiary institutions in Israel that the MFF supports, as these can be interpreted, particularly by the BDS movement, to form part of the greater Israeli military establishment.
Suffice to say, blanket academic boycotts on shaky foundations are fundamentally incompatible with the core values of any university worth its academic-freedom salts.
Yach appears oblivious to conflict emanating from her support for resolutions that diametrically oppose her grandfather’s legacy – and, perhaps more importantly from the perspective of potential conflicts of interest, the MFF’s stated mission of support for Israel.
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
Another red flag is few public reports since the horrific terror attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, of MFF donations to the Jewish state – apart from vague references to support for “mental health programmes”.
Yet another flag is reference in an affidavit Yach submitted in Mendelsohn’s lawsuit to MFF donations to “Israel and Palestine”. That will resonate well with anti-Israel groups active on UCT campus, among them South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) and UCT Alumni for Palestine, with which Yach is closely allied.
This raises questions about Yach’s involvement with these entities and under which of her multiple hats it lies?
Yach is also actively involved in alumni affairs and wears a further hat as a member of UCT’s Alumni and Development Advisory Board.
Before UCT Convocation’s AGM and Elections on December 4, 2025, Yach nominated UCT law lecturer Caitlin le Roith, the public face of SAJFP and publicly backed by UCT Alumni for Palestine, to run for the Executive Council (Exco) election. Her nomination was seconded by an SAJFP member and was successful.
Convocation ended up top-heavy with a president and four of five Exco members firmly in anti-Israel camps. The elections became a battleground with the hallmarks of a hijacking, purge, even a “pogrom” against Jews.
The aims, as supporters of newly elected officials swiftly and gleefully declared on social media, were twofold:
– to defeat the Zionist bloc (a mythical creation of their own making)” and
– ensure that UCT is “never a home for Zionists”.
If any rhetoric proves that Zionist really is the anti-Israel lobby’s code word for Jews, that was it.
INVERTED RED TRIANGLES
SAJFP leaders have distinguished themselves, if that’s quite the right word, as enthusiastic spreaders of that code word and by using inverted red triangles on social-media posts to celebrate deaths of Jewish soldiers in Gaza.
The Nazis used inverted red triangles to distinguish political groups in concentration camps. After October 7, Hamas began using the symbol as a propaganda prop to identify Israeli military targets. The symbol has spread to anti-Israel protests, especially on university campuses and social media.
The Anti-Defamation League cautions that the symbol’s ties with Hamas help to normalise terrorism and extremism under cover of “resistance”.
Yach raised eyebrows – and hackles – in September 2025 when she donated R1-million of MFF funds to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder-CEO of Gift of the Givers, for medicines for children in Gaza.
Many consider Sooliman to be an incorrigibly vocal, virulent opponent of Israel and all Jews who support it. He speaks publicly under banners claiming, “We are all Hamas”. He routinely punctuates his rhetoric with antisemitic tropes about “Zionists” who rule the world with money.
Sooliman still faces claims (hotly denied) that Gift of the Givers has funnelled funds to Hamas and other terror groups active in the Middle East for decades.
Yach is impervious to criticism of the MFF donating to a man implacably opposed to her grandfather’s stated mission and vision for the family foundation.
Sooliman has been nominated for a UCT honorary doctorate. UCT’s Council was expected to vote to accept his nomination at its regular meeting on December 6.
Suspicious Support. Unable to voice disapproval, the bust of Morris Mauerberger looks on at his granddaughter Dianna Yach presenting a cheque of one million rand to Give of the Givers’ controversial founder and CEO, Imtiaz Sooliman, who proudly appears at South African anti-Israel demonstrations under banners claiming, “We are all Hamas”.
REVIEW OF PUBLIC POWER
In the meantime, as Mendelsohn’s legal team notes in heads of argument, the lawsuit has generated “noise” around “geopolitics, antisemitism, genocide and accusations of bad faith” that drowns out what it is really all about.
The application’s merits turn simply on a “review of public power,” his lawyers say.
That review covers allegations against Yach of lying under oath and serious breach of fiduciary duties involving her allegedly deliberately withholding crucial information on predicted loss of donor funding if UCT adopted the resolutions.
It also covers UCT’s adoption of the resolutions despite robust communication beforehand from a major funder, the Donald Gordon Foundation, clearly identifying a significant breach of a clause in their donor-funding agreement.
Breach has legal consequences. It culminated in termination of DGF’s funding relationship with UCT.
In her affidavit, Yach appears to believe that the DGF had no evidentiary “dogs” barking loudly enough to alert Council members to the serious possibility of funding withdrawal.
DGF trustees have confirmed that its dogs were present throughout, barking loudly and clearly.
FUNDING HAEMORRHAGE
And when the predicted donor withdrawal materialised, the bite was devastating.
UCT instantly haemorrhaged R220-million DGF funding for its Neuroscience Institute and lost the opportunity of a more than R500-million DGF donation for a new private hospital.
The Dell Foundation withdrew R7-million in student support, agreeing only to continue support for current students but not to admit any new ones to its programme.
Another question the review raises is why Yach and other Council members decided that “expressing indignation at Israel’s conduct (in Gaza) outweighs the futures of hundreds of prospective students at UCT who have lost funding”?
Yet another question is:
Why they decided that rejecting the IHRA definition of antisemitism was more important than R750-million for both the Neuroscience Institute and a brand-new, state-of-the-art hospital, “without even knowing that such donations were at stake”?
They appear not to have thought through all the implications of the resolutions for UCT of donations from any donors with strong Israeli ties in future.
Yach strenuously denies any wrongdoing. I wouldn’t have expected her to do otherwise.
As Mendelsohn’s lawyers contend, she and certain other fellow Council members may be exposed to damages claims from UCT for non-disclosure of pertinent financial information.
UCT as “an organ of state controlling public funds earmarked for educational purposes” is, therefore, under “obligation to investigate whether it has such a claim, and if advised that it does, to pursue it.”
Yach and fellow Council members can take comfort knowing they have UCT’s full backing – for now. Despite the serious allegations against her, Yach remains in her multiple positions of power and influence.
That raises the question of whether her position as UCT’s HR Committee Chair has insulated her from the consequences of alleged non-disclosure of pertinent information, or at the very least, an inquiry into her behaviour?
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
Another question is why UCT chose to act only against Mendelsohn.
UCT suspended him for lodging the lawsuit, citing colleagues’ complaints that he was unfit to head UCT’s Department of Historical Studies. An independent investigation exonerated him and found that the complaints stemmed from colleagues’ dislike of his views on the resolutions.
Despite the exoneration, UCT has yet to reinstate Mendelsohn. One could reasonably expect Yach, as HR Committee Chair, to have nudged UCT to remedy that. One would be routinely disappointed.
UCT’s Council has fresh faces and voices after last year’s elections that offer hope of new vision, perspective and direction.
The same cannot be said for UCT’s Convocation. It may be ready, willing and well-placed to accede to growing demands effectively to “cleanse” UCT of troublesome, pesky Jews.
A UCT academic notes in response that “Jews have lived this pattern (of blatant Jew hatred) many times before in many countries…, the world recognises it only in hindsight” but “South Africa is watching it unfold in real time” on UCT campus.
It is telling that the academic has authored the response anonymously to protect her own safety. That speaks volumes about UCT as a campus that has become an increasingly dangerous place for Jews, despite official statements to the contrary.
The academic describes the Convocation elections as UCT’s “Kristallnacht 2025”.
Here is an excerpt: “No windows were smashed. No buildings burned. No mobs gathered. Instead, the purge arrives through motions and voting tallies. Through polite language and procedural respectability. Through the illusion of moral clarity.
“The result is the same. Jewish identity is framed as racism. Jewish belonging becomes conditional. Jewish safety is treated as optional.
“Yet here we are. A public university applauding the removal of Jews from a space they helped build, under the polite cover of modern political language.
“If this is what human rights discourse has become, then the words have lost their meaning.”
Unfolding alongside that collapse of moral meaning is a dystopian irony of ironies: Jews are among those contributing to UCT’s attempts to rid its campus of Jews who happen to be Zionists.
That leaves UCT urgently in need of Council members who prioritise education, ethics and human rights over politics and ideology. It requires leaders prepared to put their political ideologies aside and work together to stem the rising tsunami of antisemitism (under the guise of anti-Zionism) currently engulfing the campus.
If not, UCT will never reclaim its once glittering, global reputation as a bastion of higher learning and academic freedom.
*News Flash:
Dianna Yach is facing a call from a prominent South African-born Harvard Medical School neurology professor to stand down or be fired as Chairperson and executive director of the Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF) Board. Prof Jeremy Schmahmann, a University of Cape Town (UCT) medical school graduate, makes the call in a letter emailed to the MFF Board before its special meeting on Friday, December 12, 2025. He describes Yach’s support for the “Gaza conflict resolutions” as “unfathomable”. Her statements and actions effectively “violate the MFF commitment to academic freedom and MFF’s long history of deep support for Israel,” Schahmann writes. “They aim to torpedo academic engagement between Israeli and UCT academics. They erode donor support for UCT.” He pays tribute to Yach’s grandfather, MFF founder Morris Mauerberger, as a man who “understood the need for philanthropy” to support the foundation’s commitment to “academic freedom and long history of deep support for Israel.” Yach should resign or be fired to “allow the MFF to return to its proud past focus”, Schahmann writes.
About the writer:
Marika Sboros is a South African freelance investigative journalist with decades of experience writing fulltime for the country’s top media titles on a wide range of topics. She started her career as a hard-news reporter in the newsroom of the now defunct Rand Daily Mail, a campaigning anti-government newspaper during the worst excesses of the apartheid era. She commutes between South Africa and the UK.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Courtesy of CAMERA UK (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting & Analysis)
On the afternoon of November 14th, the BBC News website published a report by Khanyisile Ngcobo in Johannesburg and Wycliffe Muia in Nairobi headlined “South Africa to investigate ‘mystery’ of planeload of Palestinians”.
The report begins by telling readers that: [emphasis added]
“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says there will be an investigation into the “mysterious” arrival of a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza into the country.
The group arrived at OR Tambo International Airport but were initially refused entry and were stuck in the plane for more than 10 hours as they “did not have the customary departure stamps in their passports,” local authorities said.”
Readers are later told that:
“Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that while Palestinian passport-holders qualified for 90-day visa-exempt access to South Africa, the lack of departure stamps, return tickets or accommodation addresses in some of the travellers’ documentation resulted in the initial refusal to let them into the country.”
Despite their uncritical amplification of those statements, the writers of this report did not bother to inform BBC audiences that – as noted by the Israeli embassy in South Africa and others – Israel does not stamp passports on exit from the country.
The BBC’s report also tells readers that:
“The circumstances of their departure from Gaza and travel to South Africa remain unclear.”
It goes on to quote a South African media outlet:
“Ramaphosa said the group “somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi” and flew to South Africa, reports the News24 site.”
As the BBC knows, since June 2024 Israel has been facilitating the evacuation of Palestinians in need of medical care abroad and their caregivers via the Ramon Airport near Eilat. Indeed, the BBC’s report continues:
“Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza’s crossings, said in a statement: “The residents left the Gaza Strip after Cogat received approval from a third country to receive them.” It did not specify the country.”
France 24 later reported that the “third country” was South Africa. The BBC’s report continues:
“According to the Palestinian embassy in South Africa, the group left Israel’s Ramon Airport and flew to the country via the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, “without any prior note or coordination”.
A statement from the embassy said “an unregistered and misleading organization [had] exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner”.”
The BBC’s report has nothing more to tell readers about that “misleading organization” – which is called Al Majd Europe – or about the South African company to which the chartered plane belongs.
Quoting an article that appeared in Ha’aretz, the Times of Israelreports:
“According to Haaretz, the group left Gaza early Wednesday morning, via the Strip’s southern Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, following Israeli vetting.
Members of the group were then taken by bus to Israel’s Ramon Airport, near Eilat, where they boarded a chartered plane to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and from there boarded the chartered flight to Johannesburg.
An earlier group departing Gaza made an identical trip some two weeks ago and disembarked in Johannesburg without incident, Haaretz said. Both journeys were organized by an hitherto unknown organization called Al-Majd, which has received many requests from Gazans who want to leave the Strip, the report said. […]
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which oversees the flow of people and goods to and from Gaza, also told Haaretz that the Palestinians had received visas from South Africa ahead of time. COGAT was also cited by the newspaper as saying that, as a rule, Israel always makes sure that there is a country that will accept Gazans departing the Strip.”
The BBC’s report goes on to quote a South African charity which was not involved in the evacuation of that group of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip but which has also been promoting the ‘no exit stamps’ narrative.
“South African charity Gift of the Givers has said it will provide the group with accommodation in the country.
Civil societies in South Africa have called for investigations into the conditions the Palestinians had fled in Gaza and the exact route of the aircraft.”
As explained by a South African commentator, the route taken by the chartered aircraft is already known.
“From Ramon Airport, the group was routed through Nairobi as a routine logistical connection. Global Aviation Flight 901 left Johannesburg on 12 November, landed in Nairobi, and returned early on the 13th carrying the Gazan travellers. Kenya did not stamp their passports because they were in transit. Israel did not stamp passports because Israel discontinued passport stamping years ago to protect travellers from discrimination in countries that penalise entry from Israel. Instead, Israel issues electronic entry cards.
These are standard international practices. Flight records confirm the exact timings.”
The BBC’s report continues:
“Gift of the Givers has since called for Ramaphosa to investigate the home affairs ministry and border authority for the “humiliation they’ve caused” the Palestinians.
The organisation’s founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said this treatment included being forced to wait for hours on the tarmac at the airport, being denied food provided by the group and “using every excuse in the book to prevent these passengers from disembarking”.”
Remarkably, the BBC had nothing to tell its audiences either about the organisation it chose to quote or its founder – including his participation in a Cape Town rally marking the anniversary of the October 7th attacks.
“On 5 October 2024, Sooliman shared a platform under a banner proclaiming, “We are all Hamas” with known Islamist extremists. He said, “Every time we protested, the Zionists were too clever. They were arrogant, acting with impunity, put fear into you. They put fear into corporate corporations, into universities, into communities, into governments, into political parties, into associations. They run the world with fear. They control the world with money. And every time you say something, they terrify you and they say it’s antisemitic. But I’ve got a message for them. Find a new narrative, this one is dull, boring, and stupid.””
More recently, on Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, ‘Gift of the Givers’ co-hosted the screening of a problematic Al Jazeera ‘documentary’. In February 2025 the same charity promoted a video falsely claiming that Shiri Bibas was an Israeli soldier and that she and her two small children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
In recent days,Imtiaz Sooliman (with the help of Al Jazeera) has been promoting the notion that the flight that arrived in Johannesburg was part of a scheme of “forced migration” and “ethnic cleansing” of Gazans by Israel. A similar narrative is being promoted by the Palestinian Authority, the representative of which in South Africa was quoted in this BBC report.
Notably, it was the ‘mystery’ narrative promoted by a highly questionable charity – the Gift of the Givers, the PA and others that the BBC chose to highlight in this report on the story.
About the writer:
UK-born Hadar Sela has a special interest in the influence of the media on the British public’s perceptions of the Middle East and the Islamist networks operating in the UK and has been published in The Jerusalem Post, The Algemeiner, The Commentator, MERIA Journal and at Harry’s Place, among others.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
‘Surprise’ arrival of planeload of Palestinians from Gaza exposes how ‘Gift of the Givers’ is de facto running South Africa’s foreign ministry.
By Kenneth Kgwadi
It has become increasingly clear, particularly in the handling of the recent flight carrying the so-called “153 Palestinian refugees”, that Gift of the Givers has effectively assumed control over the functions of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).
It was deeply embarrassing for the government to remain completely uninformed about the details of the flight, while Gift of the Givers appeared to possess full knowledge of every aspect of the journey – information with significant foreign-policy implications for South Africa. This is especially troubling at a time when the country is already at odds with the United States and its allies.
Plane Surprise. Palestinian ambassador to South Africa Hanan Jarrar, (centre), meets with 153 Palestinian passengers from Gaza on a plane in Johannesburg, South Africa, in this handout image released on November 13, 2025 by the Embassy of the State of Palestine via Reuters. The ‘surprise’ landing allegedly left South African officials “blindsided” and after nearly 12 hours of scrambling, the group was allowed to disembark into the care of the Gift for Givers organization, which “coordinated their arrival and housing.”(Photo: Embassy of State of Palestine via Reuters)
It is increasingly reasonable to conclude that Gift of the Givers has effectively infiltrated and taken control of South Africa’s foreign policy, which has drifted far from its traditional focus on economic prosperity, peace, African unity, regional stability, and multilateral cooperation. Under the tenure of Dr. Naledi Pandor, foreign policy has increasingly centred on confronting the United States and its allies – particularly Israel – apparently as a strategy to curry favour with China, Iran, and Russia.
Gift of the Givers’ founder Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, has positioned himself close to influential power centres within DIRCO, to the point where he appears to exert substantial influence over key decisions. He played a notable role in South Africa’s move to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – a decision that not only cost the state millions of rands but also provoked serious backlash from the US and its partners.
Reception Committee. Ready to provide services to the arriving Gazans is the Muslim charity ‘Gift of the Givers’ and its founder Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman (centre) who falsely claimed to the media in order to demonize the Jewish state that “Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country,” a policy that has not existed at Israeli airports for well over a decade.
As South Africa hosts the 2025 G20 summit (22-23 November) without the presence of the world’s largest economy, the United States – and with Mexico and Argentina also absent – the message should be unmistakable. While the summit will proceed, South Africa must urgently reflect on how its international posture is eroding its global standing and take steps to repair its international image.
Many South Africans – including politicians, analysts, and ordinary citizens – have long expressed concern that the government has failed to manage the country’s borders effectively. It has now become even more evident that the state is struggling, and failing dismally, to address the complex and sensitive issue of immigration. Worse still, the authorities appear to be enabling and abetting unlawful immigration, a practice that poses serious security risks to everyone living in South Africa. By allowing people to enter the country without proper screening or due diligence, we are exposing ourselves to avoidable threats.
Gazans on the Go. The biggest mystery was that it was a mystery to South African authorities.
According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics, 26,232 people were murdered between January and December 2024. What is most troubling is that the majority of perpetrators are never apprehended. This alone demonstrates that South Africa faces a profound internal security crisis – one that demands urgent attention to ensure the safety and security of all residents. Instead of tightening internal security, the government is permitting the entry of additional groups of people without adequate vetting.
Government officials who are making the dangerous decision to admit the so-called ‘Palestinian refugees’ should revisit the historical record of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). After being expelled from Jordan in the early 1970s, the PLO relocated to Lebanon, entering the country as refugees. Over time, the refugee camps were transformed into heavily armed military bases that overshadowed the Lebanese national army and effectively created a state within a state. Their growing power contributed to the instability that culminated in the Lebanese Civil War of 1975, in which the PLO became a major participant. They were hardly conducting themselves as refugees!
The removal of the PLO in 1982 to Tunisia left the establishment of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which continued to cause chaos in that country by attacking Israel from the North. The country that used to pride itself as one of the few hubs of Christians now has below 50% of Christians, with weaker security and instability due to the infiltration of Hezbollah, which has created a state within the state in Lebanon.
There are numerous economically capable Arab states in both the Middle East and North Africa that should be at the forefront of championing the Palestinian cause. South Africa, by contrast, is grappling with a quadruple burden – poverty, inequality, unemployment, and weak economic growth – which continues to devastate the lives of its citizens. Emerging from the brutality of apartheid, South Africans still carry the deep scars of that system, and their government’s primary obligation should be to prioritise their well-being and socio-economic upliftment.
What, then, elevates the Palestinian struggle above the genocide unfolding in Sudan, where Africans are being killed in large numbers with minimal global outrage?
Why does the ANC government remain conspicuously silent on the humanitarian crises in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, the Central African Republic (CAR), Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Cameroon, Burundi, and many other African nations? These countries are battling terrorism, widespread hunger, entrenched unemployment, collapsed governance systems, and various socio-political crises, yet they do not receive the same level of vocal solidarity and diplomatic energy.
South Africa cannot afford to ignore the lessons of history. The security of the nation and its people must come first. During these tumultuous times, South Africa cannot afford to allow its foreign ministry to be hijacked and its national interests diverted by political motivated and agenda-driven non-government organizations like the highly questionable ‘Gift of the Givers’.
The TRUTH Behind The MYSTERIOUS “Palestinian Refugees”
About the writer:
Kenneth Kgwadi is a research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI).
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Dr. Naledi Pandor, who as the former South African Minister of International Relations hastily instituted with Iranian complicity the false charge of genocide against Israel at the ICJ, will this November, be visiting the US, where she will publicly engage with audiences. In the photo above, Dr. Pandor is seen with senior Hamas politburo member, Bassem Naim at the Sandton Conference Center on the 10 May 2024. On the 10 November 2025, WELT reported that Naim’s son had been arrested in London on suspicion of receiving weapons from a terrorist detained a few weeks earlier and who had hidden them in Vienna, allegedly preparing for attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets across Europe. Authorities had positively linked Bassim Naim’s son to a Hamas terror cell that was intercepted and arrested in Germany earlier in October 2025. Bassem Naim’s son will be extradited from Britain to face charges in Germany. Naledi Pandor who has called for “Jihad when necessary” and “armed struggle” is on her way to the United States.
What are her true intentions?
Will she use her visit in to the US to continue her incitement against Israel, a US ally and show support to Hamas which has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand?
____________________________________
To: The United States Secretary of State
Honorable Marco Rubio, Washington, D.C., USA
Subject: Urgent Concern – Naledi Pandor’s Planned Entry into the United States
Dear Honorable Secretary of State Rubio,
I am writing to raise serious concerns regarding Dr. Naledi Pandor, the former South African Minister of International Relations and current Chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Dr. Pandor is scheduled to appear publicly in Wisconsin on 14 November 2025.
I respectfully request you to consider whether Dr. Pandor’s activities and rhetoric warrant action before her scheduled appearance. Some problematic aspects of her conduct are briefly mentioned.
Dr. Pandor as foreign minister played a key role in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2023. In a three-month window preceding South Africa’s 29 December 2023 ICJ filing there was a tightly sequenced diplomatic alignment with actors already promoting the same narrative. Pandor travelled to Tehran for bilateral meetings with Iranian officials. She and President Ramaphosa had diplomatic meetings with Qatar in Doha. In December 2023 she participated in the “Solidarity with Palestine” conference convened by Mandla Mandela in South Africa. Public records and reports confirm that Palestinian factions affiliated with the PFLP, Hezbollah, Fatah and Hamas were present.
In her visit to the United States in mid-2025, Pandor appeared at events organized by the Chicago-based NGO Justice for All and was promoted and hosted by Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a board member of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).CAIR has been widely documented by congressional investigations and U.S. court documents as an entity established out of early Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations in North America.
It was at the behest of Dr. Pandor as chair of the Foundation who invited US sanctioned Francesca Albanese, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to deliver the prestigious Nelson Mandela Foundation 23rd Annual Lecture on October 25, 2025, in Sandton, South Africa.
Dr. Pandor has repeatedly stated that “armed struggle may become a necessity” and that Muslims are “permitted to engage in jihad when necessary.” She made these remarks at high-profile events and has previously been photographed in direct conversation with senior Hamas officials. Shortly after the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, she also held a call with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, expressing support for what that group called the “Al Aqsa Flood battle.”
Her rhetoric and documented contact with sanctioned figures are not matters of free expression but indicators of alignment with extremist networks. Allowing a former minister who has endorsed violent jihad and engaged with terrorist actors to address audiences in the United States poses clear risks of incitement and public disorder.
As Chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Dr. Pandor continues to use an institution with American-linked donors and partners, including major foundations and corporate sponsors, to advance politically radical messaging. This creates reputational and potential compliance risks for U.S. entities associated with her programs or appearances.
Given the precedent of the U.S. expelling South Africa’s ambassador in 2025 for inflammatory conduct, I respectfully ask that your office bring this matter to the attention of the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security. It is reasonable to request a review of her planned entry into the United States in the interest of public safety and diplomatic integrity.
Sincerely,
Lawrence Nowosenetz Retired Advocate (High Court of South Africa) Fulbright Scholar (USA) Tel Aviv, Israel
About the writer:
Now retired, Pretoria-born human rights and labour lawyer, Lawrence Nowosenetz practiced at the Pretoria and Johannesburg Bar. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Nowosenetz completed an internship in the USA and served as a part-time Senior Commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as a panellist at Tokiso Dispute Settlement – the largest private dispute resolution provider in South Africa. He has also served as an Acting Judge of the Hight Court, South Africa.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
South Africa aligns its foreign-policy with a partisan UN office to conspire against the Jewish state.
By Grant Gochin
Francesca Albanese’s October 2025 campaign in South Africa was not humanitarian diplomacy. Official records reviewed show that her visit – staged under United Nations insignia while she was under U.S. Treasury sanctions – was conceived, hosted, and protected by South Africa’s own foreign-policy machinery. Naledi Pandor, DIRCO, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and Palestinian academic Haidar Eid converted a UN mandate into an instrument of lawfare against Israel and the democratic West that sustains it. Their collaboration marks the open fusion of state, ideology, and propaganda.
Truth behind Tools. Francesca Albanese receives ‘The Coalition for Good Tool Kit’ from Founding Member, Naledi Pandor, symbolizing not their proclaimed shared commitment “to advancing truth, justice, and global solidarity” but to working towards the eradication of the State of Israel.
WHAT AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DIRCO
For an American audience: DIRCO is South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation – the exact equivalent of the U.S. State Department. It is the executive arm that controls South Africa’s foreign policy, diplomats, embassies, and international legal strategy.
Under the ruling African National Congress (ANC) – the party of Nelson Mandela that ended apartheid in 1994 – DIRCO has been transformed from a neutral diplomatic service into a political weapon purchased, owned and operated by Iran, Qatar, and Hamas.
It filed the ICJ “genocide” case against Israel in December 2023
It hosts Hamas and Hezbollah officials in Pretoria
It uses South Africa’s UN vote to shield Palestinian terror groups
DIRCO is not a think tank. It is state power – and under Naledi Pandor’s influence, it became the logistical backbone of Albanese’s sanctioned propaganda tour.
Behind the Smiles. Sharing a common hatred of the Jewish state and plotting against it, the former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (right) welcomes then visiting South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Naledi Pandor at the Presidential Palace in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 16, 2019. ( Photo: Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)
PANDOR’S POLITICAL PROTECTION: THE ARCHITECT OF CAPTURE
Files reviewed from October 2025 confirm that Naledi Pandor – South Africa’s former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (2019–2024) and now Chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation – extended direct political cover for Albanese’s travel and appearances.
Pandor is not a bystander. She is the mastermind:
– She personally invited Albanese to deliver the 23rd Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on October 25 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg
– She introduced Albanese as a “woman of conscience and courage” – three months after U.S. sanctions were imposed on July 9, 2025, for Albanese’s illegal attempts to drag American and Israeli citizens before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague
– She moderated the post-lecture conversation, allowing Albanese to accuse 63 democracies – led by the United States—of “collective genocide” in Gaza
DIRCO officials – still loyal to Pandor’s vision – coordinated:
– Albanese’s private briefing with ANC parliamentarians (including ANC Chair Supra Mahumapelo and EFF’s Naledi Mhlongo)
– Her Robben Island photo-op – the prison where Mandela was held for 18 years – to falsely equate Israel with apartheid
– Security, transport, and press logistics for the entire tour
A Sell Out. While it was reported that tickets for 23rd Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the Sandton Convention Centre on October 25, 2025 in Johannesburg “were sold out within 30 minutes,” what was truly more seriously “SOLD OUT” was South Africa’s foreign policy! Sees here on stage following the lecture is Naledi Pandor draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh with UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese.(Photo: Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
These same records describe DIRCO‘s “soft diplomatic cover,” including interference in foreign legal processes to shield a sanctioned UN official from accountability. Pandor’s dual role – former head of DIRCO and current moral custodian of the Mandela Foundation – made her the gatekeeper. She turned Mandela’s legacy into political currency for a sanctioned propagandist.
MANDELA FOUNDATION’S CAPTURE: FROM MORAL BEACON TO PROPAGANDA ARM
The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) is not a government agency – it is a registered Public Benefit Organization (PBO) under South Africa’s tax law, meaning it enjoys tax-exempt status like a 501(c)(3) in the U.S. It was founded in 1999 to preserve Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation, truth, and non-racialism.
Under Pandor, it has been fully captured:
– It co-branded Albanese’s 24-page report Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime with its logo
– It amplified the apartheid analogy across its website, social media, and global newsletters
– It hosted Haidar Eid – a Gaza-based academic who uses Hamas Ministry of Health casualty figures – at a University of Cape Town (UCT) roundtable on October 28
The files show no internal dissent. The NMF functioned as an extension of Pandor’s DIRCO, not an independent civil-society body. This is state capture – a term South Africans know well from the Zuma-era corruption scandals, where government officials hijacked public institutions for private or political gain. Pandor has done the same to Mandela’s name.
DIRCO’S LAWFARE ENGINE: THE ICJ PIPELINE
DIRCO’s internal documentation reveals deliberate integration of Albanese’s messaging into South Africa’s ICJ strategy at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague – the UN’s top court for disputes between countries.
Staff notes and briefing materials show:
-Albanese’s meetings with DIRCO legal advisors were used to refine ICJ pleadings
-Her 24-page report – co-authored with Haidar Eid – was distributed to ICJ delegates as “evidence“
-DIRCO coordinated with Law for Palestine (a Ramallah-based propaganda hub) to frame the report as UN-endorsed scholarship
This is not advocacy. This is operational alignment between a UN office and a national foreign-policy war machine.
HAIDAR EID:FROM ACADEMIC TO STATE COLLABORATOR
Haidar Eid is a Palestinian academic from Gaza, formerly a professor at Al-Aqsa University (a Hamas-controlled institution) and now a research associate at the University of Pretoria – a South African state university.
He is not neutral:
– He is a leading BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) activist
– He is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Palestinian BDS National Committee
– He founded the One Democratic State Group
– He was the complainant in South Africa’s ‘Al-Aqsa Docket’ – a legal case targeting Israeli officials
Albanese credits Eid as co-author of her report. DIRCO‘s Director-General Zane Dangor personally received him at OR Tambo Airport in December 2023 as a “guest of the state” shortly before the ICJ filing, stating that DIRCO would “reconnect with the returnees to debrief them and get their perspectives on events in Gaza.”
Eid’s testimony and draft text were integrated into Albanese’s UN-branded document, then fed into South Africa’s ICJ case.
In effect, South Africa imported a partisan activist, gave him state hospitality, and used him to launder Hamas propaganda as UN evidence!
“COALITION FOR GOOD”: AL QARADAWI’S BLUEPRINT REBORN
Albanese, Pandor, and DIRCO intersect again in the Coalition for Good (CFG) – a South African NGO chaired by Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers (South Africa’s largest Muslim charity).
CFG‘s structure and membership mirror Yusuf Al-Qaradawi‘s Union of Good – a global network designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2008 for financing Hamas.
– Pandor is listed as an “esteemed member”
– Albanese was photographed wearing the CFG pin during her October 2025 appearances
– Sooliman publicly stated he invited Albanese to join the Coalition
– CFG‘s fundraising drives were synchronized with Albanese’s report launch and ICJ milestones – promoted as “humanitarian aid” but aligned with lawfare objectives
Sooliman accompanied Albanese to every appearance during her South Africa tour, including on flights between cities.
This is not charity. This is Islamist political infrastructure operating under South African state protection.
Coalition for Evil. UN’s Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese (left) expresses great admiration for ‘The Coalition for Good’ initiative chaired by Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman (right) of ‘Gift of the Givers’ (South Africa’s largest Muslim charity) that in its own words appearing online is “exposing Israel’s actions as those of a terrorist, pariah, inhumane, genocidal, apartheid state that has occupied and usurped Palestinian lands.”
FROM MANDELA TO MECHANISM: THE FINAL BETRAYAL
The transformation is complete.
– Pandor’s DIRCO supplies the state machinery
-The captured Mandela Foundation supplies the moral façade
-Albanese supplies the UN branding
-Eid supplies the Hamas-sourced content
Each node reinforces the others. The product is a seamless propaganda loop that uses the language of human rights to launder political warfare – and seeks not coexistence, but Israel’s erasure.
BREAKING THE ALIGNMENT: ACTION REQUIRED
The evidence warrants formal scrutiny, not silence.
The UN must:
-Suspend Albanese’s mandate pending investigation into state coordination and external funding violations
The U.S. Treasury must:
– Impose secondary sanctions on the Nelson Mandela Foundation and DIRCO officials involved in hosting sanctioned individuals of the Coalition for Good and Gift of the Givers for platforming a sanctioned individual
– Revoke U.S. tax-exempt status for any American donor to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which is now operating as an agent of Hamas
South Africa’s SARS (tax authority) must:
– Revoke the NMF‘s PBO tax-exempt status for political campaigning and sanctions evasion
Global donors must:
In the interests of preserving the true legacy of Mandela, withdraw from any entity bearing his name where Naledi Pandor exercises control.
Pandor and DIRCO have converted diplomacy into propaganda. The Mandela Foundation has converted history into a megaphone and Haidar Eid has converted scholarship into political warfare.
Together, they have turned South Africa into the African staging ground of a global campaign against democracy itself.
Free Mandela’s legacy.
Defund Pandor’s machine. Now.
About the writer:
Grant Arthur Gochin currently serves as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Togo. He is the Emeritus Special Envoy for Diaspora Affairs for the African Union, which represents the fifty-five African nations, and Emeritus Vice Dean of the Los Angeles Consular Corps, the second largest Consular Corps in the world. Gochin is actively involved in Jewish affairs, focusing on historical justice. He has spent the past twenty five years documenting and restoring signs of Jewish life in Lithuania. He has served as the Chair of the Maceva Project in Lithuania, which mapped / inventoried / documented / restored over fifty abandoned and neglected Jewish cemeteries. Gochin is the author of “Malice, Murder and Manipulation”, published in 2013. His book documents his family history of oppression in Lithuania. He is presently working on a project to expose the current Holocaust revisionism within the Lithuanian government. Professionally, Gochin is a Certified Financial Planner and practices as a Wealth Advisor in California, where he lives with his family. Personal site: https://www.grantgochin.com/
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
