Member of Parliament and grandson of former late president Nelson Mandela, Chief Mandla Mandela has thrown his weight behind the protesters outside the Miss South Africa office in Johannesburg.
They are calling for the boycott of the Miss Universe pageant that will be held in Israel, next month. He says that the reigning Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane, is a dynamic woman, but if she insists on going ahead and participate in the pageant that she should do so as a private citizen.
“For us today is a very important day in solidarity with the people of Palestine. As you know that the international solidarity movement during our struggle for liberation, rallied around the anti-apartheid movement and even went as far as calling for the release Mandela campaign,” says Chief Mandela.
Mapaila, Mandela join the protest to boycott the Miss Universe pageant:
Scores of people in SACP, ANC and Free Palestine regalia have gathered outside the offices of the pageant’s headquarters in Rivonia, Johannesburg to call for Miss South Africa to withdraw from the Miss Universe beauty pageant. About 20 organisations including AFRICA for Palestine have been calling for South Africa’s withdrawal from the event.
However, in a statement released a week ago, Miss South Africa organisers said that a very small but extremely vocal group was attempting to, and had failed to derail Mswane’s chances at the prestigious international pageant. The SACP’s Solly Mapaila says the organisers do not take the history of this country seriously.
“You know even Miss South Africa pageant in the past it was divided by the apartheid regime. We had Miss Black South Africa in order to affirm our participation in the event. That’s why we feel like coming from where we come from as a country they should be able to consider this matter and refuse to participate in Israel,” Mapaila explains.
#Africa4Palestine and its partners are protesting outside the Miss South Africa head office:
