Irony in Iran: Mandla Mandela gets human rights award

The Mandela name is associated with human rights, so it would make sense that awarding the late president’s grandson an award would be reason to celebrate. However, Mandla Mandela went to Tehran, Iran, at the beginning of this month to receive the Islamic Human Rights Award from a country that, according to Amnesty International (AI), has an appalling human rights record.

Experts say it indicates growing closeness between Iran and South Africa.

“We bring fraternal greetings from the people of South Africa to the Iranian people. The ties that bind us are deep and historic,” Mandela said in his acceptance speech. He invoked his grandfather’s legacy of human rights activism. This in a country where, according to AI, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, and intersex people and ethnic and religious minorities face discrimination and violence.

Iranian legislation undermines sexual and reproductive rights, the right to freedom of religion and belief, and access to the internet, AI says. Torture and other ill-treatment remains widespread. Judicial punishment of flogging, amputation, and blinding is imposed. The death penalty is used widely, including as a weapon of repression. Executions are carried out after unfair trials.

Mandela made no mention of any of this. Instead, he said, “Today, we witness the prevailing hypocrisy in the world, the unfolding of great tragedies, genocide, and human displacement on an unprecedented scale in the Middle East as if there’s no international law protecting human rights, and as if there are different sets of rules for some than for others.”

He then invoked the Palestinian cause. Iran backs terror groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah, which carry out terror attacks against Israelis and want the Jewish state obliterated. After Israel targeted PIJ militants in Gaza in early August, Iran said it would “pay a heavy price” and that the country wanted to “eradicate Israel from the map and the face of the earth”.

“We join the leadership and people of Iran in standing with the oppressed people of Palestine until freedom dawns,” said Mandela. “On behalf of all who support the struggle for a free Palestine and especially the brave and courageous men, women, and children of Palestine, I humbly accept this prize.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian hailed Mandela’s efforts to strengthen Iran-South Africa co-operation and his support for the Palestinians.

Local political analyst Daniel Silke says the visit symbolises South Africa’s growing closeness to Iran, even though it wasn’t an official trip. “By the look of it, much of South Africa’s foreign policy, whether defined through Dirco [the department of international relations and co-operation] or Mandla Mandela, now looks as though it’s firmly within the grasp of the pro-Iranian, heavily-pro-Palestinian faction.

“South Africa increasingly looks as though she’s distancing herself from the Saudi Arabian, more Gulf-oriented view, and pursing much more of an Iranian view, because ultimately, those are the two big competing interesting the Middle East. Whether it’s on issues relating to Israel or even on regional issues, South Africa may see herself more closely aligned to the Iranians. It’s a choice that seems to have been made, although South Africa will deny it,” Silke says.

Hussein Solomon, senior professor in the department of political studies and governance at the University of the Free State, says, “Mandla Mandela has been a leading figure in BDS [the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement], and his visit to Iran is a logical outcome of his ideological persuasions.”

Iran uses the Palestinian cause as “a political football” that’s “useful in terms of its foreign policy goals”, Solomon says.

“Iran is a pariah state in the international community and a designated state sponsor of terrorism that consistently ranks as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers,” says Rolene Marks, the spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation.

“Its record on antisemitism, including Holocaust denial, is well documented. Iran is also the key sponsor of PIJ, against whom the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] recently conducted a military operation in Gaza. Mandla Mandela’s loyalty to Iran is especially horrific given the context of PIJ’s campaign of terror over the weekend, with hundreds of rockets raining over civilian areas in Israel and fired from civilian areas in Gaza.”

“Mandla Mandela’s obsession with demonising Israel and perpetuating the BDS antisemitic narrative makes him irrelevant,” says South African Jewish Board of Deputies national director Wendy Kahn.