Mandela Foundation draws fire over #ZindziMandela's land thief remarks

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Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Foundation has distanced itself from reports that it intends to meet with Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's daughter Zindzi over her Twitter remark in which she labelled white people as “land thieves.” Zindzi Mandela’s Twitter comments on Friday prompted AfriForum to make a call to the International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor to fire Mandela as South Africa's Ambassador to Denmark. On Monday, AfriForum's international liaison spokesperson Alana Bailey said Pandor had yet to respond to their call. Nelson Mandela Foundation spokesperson Luzuko Koti denounced a report which went viral in which several Twitter users condemned the foundation. Koti said the report was “not a true reflection of a comment” he gave to a journalist. “We were contacted by a journalist about our views on tweets by Zindzi Mandela. Our reaction was no comment. So the journalist turned our no comment reaction into a story with no factual basis.

“The tweets after the report were unfortunate. We never said we wanted to meet Zindzi Mandela to discuss her tweets,” Koti said.

While Koti was denying inviting Zindzi to a meeting, Twitter was ablaze with attacks in response.

Kim Heller, formerly an EFF member, wrote: "Land return does not need the consent of whites. The fact that black South Africans allow us to even discuss this issue is a sign of their humanity not ours. As whites we have shown no remorse for land theft. Perhaps we have no moral compass #ZindziMandela speaks truths."

Former Cope youth leader Anele Mda said in her tweet: “Nelson Mandela Foundation has never called Helen Zille out, it has never called FF+ out, it has never done anything tangible in pursuit of a society where unjust, inhuman domination of black is a fashion.”

Zille’s fellow DA member Ghaleb Cachalia also came under attack for his tweet when he called for Zindzi to be held accountable. “Her comments were appalling,” said Cachalia.

This enraged M Tshabalala, who reacted to Cachalia, saying: “You were silent about Helen Zille when she praised colonial rule.”

In an apparent attack on the foundation, a Gauteng EFF leader Patrick Sindane said: "My people will go to a point of attacking #HandsOffZindziMandela for saying what is true. My people are protecting land thieves, trying to sound correct in the eyes of the world & wishing to change the historical fact that land was stolen. A colonised mind is a dangerous mind.”

Actress, presenter and producer Lebo Mashile wrote: "The kind of racist venom this woman has had to deal with in her life and on this app would drive anyone without a backbone to collapse. When she talks back, she is the problem? White supremacy is so typical.”

Political Bureau