Mandela's legacy hijacked: Christian groups slam NMF for anti-faith campaign
The Christian Leaders' Forum, South African Friends of Israel (SAFI), and the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem are painfully dismayed by the latest attack against Christianity mounted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF). Their latest campaign, dressed as the 'Solidarity in Action Awards', seeks to award applicants with proposals on ' creative, courageous, and effective initiatives geared towards challenging Christian Zionism.'
The organisations, among several other parties, are jointly calling for renewed respect for the constitutional right of South African Christians to freely express their religious convictions, particularly regarding support for Israel. This comes amid growing concern about what the groups describe as a troubling ideological drift within the Nelson Mandela Foundation, made clear by its blatant hostility towards Christian Zionism, as characterised by the Solidarity in Action Awards.
'It appears that the NMF has been hijacked by radicals with political agendas, and it is no coincidence that it has been steered in this horrific ideological direction following the recent appointment of Naledi Pandor as its chairperson', comments Bafana Modise, spokesperson at SAFI.
He adds that: 'Pandor has demonstrated profound hostility towards the State of Israel and is notoriously known to have friendly relations with Hamas, a designated terrorist group that has been actively pursuing genocide against the LGBTQ+ community, Christians, Israelis and Jews since its inception.'
Nelson Mandela explicitly recognised 'the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish nationalism' in 1993 and insisted on 'the right of the state of Israel to exist within secure borders'. He also, as President of our great country, received an honorary doctorate from one of Israel's prestigious universities that was bestowed upon him at the Three Arts theatre in Cape Town.
At this event, he underlined the importance of Israel's contribution to the world and stressed the need to come to a peaceful agreement with the Palestinian people whereby the two peoples could live side by side in peace.
'This is something we all pray for. Zionism is fundamentally supported by Christians, especially evangelicals, who constitute approximately 50% of South African Christians and share a deep understanding of Biblical Scripture that highlights God's everlasting covenant with Israel. We are beginning to see an alarming trend where respectable South African organisations are being indirectly hijacked by hostile foreign forces promoting an agenda which is harmful to the average South African,' adds Modise.
'Support for Israel and its right to exist, a reasonable position that serves as the foundation of Zionism, is rooted in biblical truth and genuine faith, far removed from the politicised falsehoods that distort or undermine it. The NMS's attempts to rebrand Zionism as colonialism or apartheid undermine and disrespect the religious beliefs of millions of South Africans,' comments Vivienne Myburgh, spokesperson for the ICEJ.
The organisations point to the growing silencing of Christian voices in public discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'Our concern is not only theological. It is also deeply humanitarian,' says Myburgh. 'In Sub-Saharan Africa, Christians face persecution from radical Islamists. In 2024 alone, approximately 4,476 Christians were murdered, with over 16 million displaced by attacks in Nigeria, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and other countries. These militant groups aim to eradicate Christianity similarly to Israel's enemies - through terror, destruction, and repression.'
Bizarrely, while Christian communities have halved in most Middle Eastern countries, the number of Christians in Israel has increased roughly fourfold. Many Christians in South Africa view Israel's security concerns as valid and urgent. Attacks from Iran-backed proxies, targeting Israel with missiles, terrorism, and hostility, pose existential threats.
'Rather than condemning terrorism, we've witnessed local political factions extending solidarity to the perpetrators. This is not the South Africa Mandela envisioned,' adds Myburgh. The ICEJ, SAFI, and Christian Leaders Forum urge the Foundation, once a global beacon of dialogue and reconciliation, to return to Mandela's principles of religious tolerance and bridge-building, not division.
They also stressed that Christian Zionism in South Africa should not be misrepresented or weaponised in public debates. 'Supporting Israel is not colonialism. It is a covenant,' said Pearl Kupe from the Christian Leaders Forum. 'To delegitimise that is to delegitimise the faith of millions of law-abiding, peace-loving South Africans.'
SAFI, the ICEJ, and the Christian Leaders Forum call on national leaders, religious institutions, and civil society to reaffirm South Africa's foundational commitment to freedom of belief, robust dialogue, and principled peace.
Daniel Johnson
Johannesburg
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Mandela's legacy hijacked: Christian groups slam NMF for anti-faith campaign
Daniel Johnson | Published 2 days ago The Christian Leaders' Forum, South African Friends of Israel (SAFI), and the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem are painfully dismayed by the latest attack against Christianity mounted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF). Their latest campaign, dressed as the 'Solidarity in Action Awards', seeks to award applicants with proposals on ' creative, courageous, and effective initiatives geared towards challenging Christian Zionism.' The organisations, among several other parties, are jointly calling for renewed respect for the constitutional right of South African Christians to freely express their religious convictions, particularly regarding support for Israel. This comes amid growing concern about what the groups describe as a troubling ideological drift within the Nelson Mandela Foundation, made clear by its blatant hostility towards Christian Zionism, as characterised by the Solidarity in Action Awards. 'It appears that the NMF has been hijacked by radicals with political agendas, and it is no coincidence that it has been steered in this horrific ideological direction following the recent appointment of Naledi Pandor as its chairperson', comments Bafana Modise, spokesperson at SAFI. He adds that: 'Pandor has demonstrated profound hostility towards the State of Israel and is notoriously known to have friendly relations with Hamas, a designated terrorist group that has been actively pursuing genocide against the LGBTQ+ community, Christians, Israelis and Jews since its inception.' Nelson Mandela explicitly recognised 'the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish nationalism' in 1993 and insisted on 'the right of the state of Israel to exist within secure borders'. He also, as President of our great country, received an honorary doctorate from one of Israel's prestigious universities that was bestowed upon him at the Three Arts theatre in Cape Town. 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The NMS's attempts to rebrand Zionism as colonialism or apartheid undermine and disrespect the religious beliefs of millions of South Africans,' comments Vivienne Myburgh, spokesperson for the ICEJ. The organisations point to the growing silencing of Christian voices in public discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 'Our concern is not only theological. It is also deeply humanitarian,' says Myburgh. 'In Sub-Saharan Africa, Christians face persecution from radical Islamists. In 2024 alone, approximately 4,476 Christians were murdered, with over 16 million displaced by attacks in Nigeria, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and other countries. These militant groups aim to eradicate Christianity similarly to Israel's enemies - through terror, destruction, and repression.' Bizarrely, while Christian communities have halved in most Middle Eastern countries, the number of Christians in Israel has increased roughly fourfold. 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SAFI, the ICEJ, and the Christian Leaders Forum call on national leaders, religious institutions, and civil society to reaffirm South Africa's foundational commitment to freedom of belief, robust dialogue, and principled peace. Daniel Johnson Johannesburg
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Come on poepols, let's get SA working
Letters to the Editor. Image: Supplied Mandela foundation hijacked by radicals I am deeply troubled by the Nelson Mandela Foundation's (NMF) recent launch of the 'Solidarity in Action Awards,' which explicitly invites proposals to challenge Christian Zionism – a move that many South African faith communities are viewing as an attack on religious freedom. Christian Zionism, supported by nearly 50% of South Africa's Christian population, is rooted in biblical belief and a peaceful vision for Israel and Palestine coexisting. Yet this new initiative by the NMF seeks to delegitimise that belief, vilifying a theology that millions of South Africans hold dear. The NMF has clearly been hijacked by radicals with political agendas and it is no coincidence that it has been steered in this horrific ideological direction following the recent appointment of Naledi Pandor as its chairperson. Pandor has demonstrated profound hostility towards Israel and is notoriously known to have friendly relations with Hamas, a designated terrorist group that has been actively pursuing genocide against the LGBTQ+ community, Christians, Israelis and Jews since its cannot ignore the role she is playing in the growing trend of the silencing of Christian voices, especially those who support Israel. At a time when Christians across Africa face violent persecution, it is disheartening to see South African institutions promote narratives that distort biblical truth and undermine is not colonialism. Support for Israel is not extremism. It is time for the Foundation to return to Mandela's principles of inclusion and dialogue. | Daniel Jacobi Executive Director of the South African Friends of Israel Come on poepols, let's get SA working Let's take a step back and see where we are. The GNU is a year old; it is time for its gender reveal party. The nappies must come off now. It can stop crawling and take its first strides into finding real-life plans to get the country working again. What should we do? If there is to be a national dialogue, what should we be talking about? How should it be said? Who should be having it? Let's start with what we all agree on. Turns out South Africans concur on the important issues: Employment should be our first priority, followed by safety. Race should not be a policy priority. Most South Africans don't want BEE to continue being enforced.(Sources: IRR, SRF, and Ipsos polls and research). By all accounts and surveys, the indications are that while we are a country of many cultures and colours, we share a largely conservative and family-oriented approach to life. We are concerned about the same things – jobs and safety, bread and butter issues remain at the top of our minds. These are potent sentiments our political leaders, elite, and thought instigators should take note of. It means we don't have to harp on and on about race, no matter how much fun it is and how the righteous indignation feels so good. We don't have to take the people in the red berets, nor the bearded groups in deep khaki, or the suited government officials seriously when they start banging their fists on about race. These are foolish actions by foolish people, and we can tell them that. We can go: 'Oi, mampara! Move it along. How are you going to create more jobs for more people and more economic growth for the country?' (Did you know, other words for 'fool' in South Arica are mampara, isiphukuphuku, moegoe, poepol, or leoatla.) Don't be afraid to use these words when addressing the government or the elite. Shake your head, feel the word softly, but say it out loud. Allow yourself to think the thought, then say the word then do a deed that shows your feelings. As ordinary South Africans, we need our voices to be heard, not only at the voting stations but all the time. It is not an expression of hate or revolution; it is a course correction. It is an 'aikona' spoken politely but firmly. We must learn how to be more persuasive with our top classes. Remember what we did with e-tolls? We just refused to pay. OUTA (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse) showed us the facts and how to say: 'No.' There was no violence, and there were no riots, but our voices shouted so loudly it broke the system. We did it again with the recent VAT increase. Absolutely, some opposition parties objected to the increase, and there was much political posturing, but that was a hasty reaction to a mighty rumbling in the population. That energy of collective discontent amongst all groups gathered speed and became a wind of change, invisible, but powerful. We did that by twittering and tweeting and complaining and cautioning. The results were politicians scurrying in the whirlwind and doing their jobs for once. We did that. We know how to do did loadshedding stop so suddenly, after years of our torment? The political will brought about by tear of political consequence on the part of the ANC played a big part. The nation's shared outrage at having their families disrupted during basic tasks like preparing your children for school or their businesses damaged because of the government's lack of maintenance became the most pressure you can put on a government. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading We called their bluff because they knew what would happen at the voting booths if they didn't fix it. No revolt, just small ripples of voices becoming a tsunami of resolute anger: 'Fix this or lose at the polls.' I did interviews across various spheres of our society at the time and while people used different words, they all said the same thing. A businessman in Sandton would say of the electricity crisis: 'The rampant corruption and mismanagement at Eskom is exacerbating the situation. We might also be over-reliant on coal. We need our government to step in, or it will be a disaster for the ANC the next time people vote.' I spoke to a security guard in the checkout queue of a supermarket in Bloubergstrand. He phrased it thus, while rubbing his stomach: 'It is not because the coal is wet, it is because they (the government) are eating that money. They will eat and eat until we say: 'Aikona!' We will open their eyes. You will see that coal will suddenly be dry before the elections.' These are the narratives our media outlets should be publishing. Our nation has a collective intelligence that is smart and calculated and often homogenous. Governments listen when the people figure out how to talk to them. We need think tanks, lobby groups, and media companies that publish the stories of our sameness and our aspirations more clearly. The government should hear that South Africans are more united than we are being led to believe. We are united enough. What we need now is economic growth. We need a Government of National Economic Growth. A GNEG. This is how the nappies come off. The populace in turn must learn how to demand more course corrections. We must stamp our feet for fewer restrictions on trade, whether that comes in the form of BEE or registration of spaza shops. We can tell the government that their plan for BEE was a valid idea, but it had unintended consequences. The people won't tolerate it anymore: like e-tolls, the VAT increase, and load-shedding. Bad laws can simply 'now. The R290 billion a year it costs us to enforce BEE policy can be applied where it matters – fixing infrastructure and creating a stable economy. We must focus on publishing stories of our sameness and our common goals. The real national dialogue is already happening on the street level, amongst real people who understand its real-life consequences. Put that online, in print and on radio. The race-baiting has gone on long enough. Stop it! Aikona! Come on poepols, let's get this country working. | Vivienne Vermaak Free Market Foundation Donald Trump holds the world hostage While Hamas, hangs on for dear life to the 20+ hostages they still hold, fully realising that the treacherous Tel Aviv terrorists would immediately push the total annihilation button and send what's left of the two million citizens into instant martyrdom as soon as these hostages are released, the world conveniently forgets about another living organism that is being held as a giant hostage. This huge hostage is all the countries of the world except the US. And, of course, the one that has captured the major part of the planet as perpetual hostage is the madman, US President Donald Trump. Demanding extraordinary hefty payments in hectically high ransom figures as trade tariffs is but one of his one-sided bargaining weapons. He has a whole Pandora's Box of others in his golf kit bag: Sanctions placed if any country wishes to join BRICS for instance: Amputate diplomatic ties; jump off helping to fund UNESCO and other UN humanitarian organisations; demolish the UN building in New York; deport and excommunicate naturalised US citizens that originate from 'erring' countries; restrict visas to 'enemy' governments; refuse loans and subsidies to African countries. And another few thousand openly and clearly-worded ransom notes that seem to be conjured every weekend in the heartless head of this mammoth megalomaniac. Meantime , the other cheek of the same bum – Netanyahu – continues to use the most flimsy excuse of heavily clichéd single-track monologues that go ad-nauseam: 'Remember October 7; dismembered babies; the Holocaust; remember Hamas?And so Israel continues with it's mission statement; of demolishing each and every trace of what Gaza once was; to grind and bury the bones of every Palestinian, man woman, child and foetus into the rubble, the very minute after the last hostage living or dead is released. Then they can themselves and their like-minded allies in Washington and Tel Aviv can help themselves to the wealth of gas buried off Gaza in the Mediterranean. | Ebrahim Essa Durban DAILY NEWS
