‘We saw the truth with our own eyes’
Zaziwe and Zamaswazi (Swazi) Dlamini-Manaway, the granddaughters of South Africa’s legendary leader, Nelson Mandela, said that while their visit to Israel and Gaza in September had been strictly humanitarian, it was also “life-changing.”
Zaziwe and Zamaswazi (Swazi) Dlamini-Manaway inspect aid for Gaza coordinated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Sept. 20, 2025. Credit: National Black Empowerment Council (NBEC).
The two sisters, whose mother, Zenani Mandela‑Dlamini, was the second daughter of Mandela’s second wife, Winnie, met Israeli President Isaac Herzog, toured Yad Vashem and Jerusalem’s Old City, and visited areas in southern Israel devastated by the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway said the visit had profoundly affected their understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“It was life-changing and really opened our eyes,” she told JNS after returning home to South Africa. “We saw the truth with our own eyes, including the amount of aid. Reports in the media have led us to believe that there was little or no aid going into Gaza. This couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The sisters highlighted the coexistence they had observed in Israel. “We met Jews, Christians and Muslims, people of different identities, who share the same hopes for security, family, and a peaceful life,” they said in joint remarks to JNS. “Away from the cameras, you see daily coexistence, people working together, children playing together, communities building lives side by side.”
Regarding their view of Israel, they said, “We came as humanitarians and peacemakers, not politicians, and what we witnessed was a society far more complex and interconnected than what headlines often suggest. Seeing people of different faiths and backgrounds living and working side by side, even after unimaginable pain, deepened our respect for those striving to make coexistence real.”
Mission to Gaza
During their mission to Gaza, the sisters joined the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), helping to distribute more than 10,000 meals, particularly to women and children. “What we saw were families who have lost so much yet still hold onto dignity, faith and hope,” Zaziwe said. “The strength of the women we met, their courage in the face of devastation, will stay with us forever.
“We also saw how essential coordination and safety are in getting aid where it’s needed. Delivering assistance responsibly and securely, through established humanitarian channels, ensures that help reaches those who need it most and prevents further harm.”
Prior to the visit, they said, like many around the world, they had seen South African media reports of food shortages and famine in Gaza.
“Our time in Gaza with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was both heartbreaking and hopeful,” they said. “We worked alongside incredible local and international partners and through the coordination and support of the National Black Empowerment Council, which helped make our visit and humanitarian mission possible, we were able to distribute food and essential aid, including more than 10,000 meals, particularly to women and children.”
While their cousin Mandla Mandela was detained in Israel after joining the Global Sumud Flotilla, the sisters condemned hateful rhetoric that denies Israel’s right to exist or distorts its suffering.
“We come from the house of Winnie and Nelson Mandela and choose to make our own mission strictly humanitarian,” they said. “We came to Israel and Gaza to listen, to learn and to deliver aid, not to make political statements or assign blame.
“Our work is grounded in compassion and bridge-building, not division. We believe that real progress comes from acknowledging each other’s humanity and working together to ease suffering, not through inflammatory or extremist language of any kind.”
After viewing the Nova festival memorial in the Re’im forest and Kibbutz Nir Oz, they were “shocked to the core by the scale of atrocities and people killed simply for being Jewish.”
Despite the grief they witnessed, they found hope in Israelis refusing to give up on peace. Drawing on their grandfather’s legacy, they emphasized the importance of reconciliation and dialogue.
“We all want the same end goal: dignity, safety and opportunity for all people; but we believe in achieving that through dialogue, cooperation, and practical acts of compassion,” Zaziwe said.
The sisters concluded that if Nelson Mandela were alive, he would “call on leaders and ordinary people alike to choose dialogue over despair, courage over fear. We carry that lesson with us wherever we go. Our message is simple: see the humanity in one another, protect life, and keep faith that peace, however difficult, is possible.”
JNS
