Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela and ex member of Parliament for the ANC in South Africa, has been barred from entering the United Kingdom. The UK Home Office recently refused his application for a visit visa, citing concerns over his public support for Hamas and other militant organizations. The refusal, dated October 21, 2024, lays out a series of troubling social media posts and public statements in which Mandela allegedly praised violent activities by these groups, raising fears that his presence could incite tensions within the UK.

The refusal centers largely on Mandela’s support for Hamas, which has been a proscribed terrorist organization in the UK since 2001. According to the Home Office, Mandela publicly supported Hamas following the group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In an Instagram post on the day of the attack, Mandela reportedly stated: “We support the Palestinian right to resist and call on all resistance formations to likewise support Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and intensify the struggle on all fronts... We unequivocally support Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” This post, according to the Home Office, glorified the attack, which led to the deaths of Israeli civilians, and was one of several similar statements Mandela allegedly made in the weeks and months that followed.

On the first anniversary of the attack, Mandela again took to social media to commemorate the event, stating: “We commemorate one year of heroic resistance in a long continuum of the Palestinian people’s inevitable march to freedom... We pay tribute to the families of Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon who have paid the ultimate price and salute the martyrs who demonstrated their unflinching faith and willingness to sacrifice their lives for the liberation of Al-Aqsa and all of Occupied Palestine.”

The Home Office concluded that these statements, and others like them, would likely incite tensions among the UK’s Jewish community, leading to potential public disorder. “It is assessed that your proposed visit to the UK would highly likely cause tensions within UK Jewish communities due to your explicit statements highlighted above, particularly in relation to support for Hamas and glorifying the October 7 attack,” the letter reads.

Support for Ismail Haniyeh and Hizballah

The Home Office’s refusal letter also notes Mandela’s public admiration for Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas political leader who was assassinated in July 2024. Mandela reportedly attended Haniyeh’s funeral in Qatar and posted a tribute on social media, calling Haniyeh a “great revolutionary leader” and declaring that his assassination would “only serve to increase the resolve of all in the Palestinian resistance to intensify the march to freedom.” This act of public mourning, combined with his earlier praise for Hamas, further entrenched the Home Office’s concerns about Mandela’s political affiliations.

In addition to his support for Hamas, Mandela is also alleged to have glorified Hizballah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2024. The Home Office cites a statement Mandela made after Nasrallah’s death, where he reportedly said: “The Great Cedar of Lebanon has fallen but in the shadow of his glorious sacrifice, the forests of freedom will flourish. May Allah Almighty accept the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”

These tributes to militant leaders, combined with Mandela’s support for groups like the Lion’s Den and the Houthis, led the Home Office to conclude that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to public safety or the public good. “I am satisfied that your presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good that necessitates a mandatory refusal of your application for entry clearance as a visitor,” the letter states.

Public Safety and Freedom of Expression

The UK government’s decision to deny Mandela a visa was made under Paragraph 9.3.1 of the Immigration Rules, which allows entry to be refused if the applicant’s presence is deemed a threat to public safety or order. The Home Office found that Mandela’s support for Hamas, Hizballah, and other militant groups posed such a threat, especially to the UK’s Jewish communities.

The letter also addresses potential concerns over Mandela’s freedom of expression, which is protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). While the Home Office acknowledged Mandela’s right to express his views, it concluded that his public endorsements of terrorist activities went beyond the limits of acceptable free speech. The letter explains that while Article 10 protects the right to free expression, this right does not extend to incitement to violence or support for proscribed terrorist organizations.

“Whilst the Article is also applicable to information or ideas which ‘offend, shock or disturb’, the Court has reiterated that incitement to discrimination is a form of incitement to intolerance which should never be overstepped in exercising the freedom of expression,” the letter reads. It goes on to explain that Mandela’s statements glorifying violence and inciting support for Hamas and other militant groups constitute a significant risk to public safety, justifying the refusal of his visa application.

Lack of Retraction or Mitigation

One of the key factors in the Home Office’s decision was Mandela’s failure to retract or clarify his controversial statements. The letter points out that Mandela has made no attempt to distance himself from his previous comments or to offer any mitigating evidence that would reduce concerns about his conduct.

In fact, when Mandela addressed the calls for his ban from the UK, he did so without directly responding to the concerns about his support for Hamas. In an Instagram post from October 2024, he wrote: “There is a bitter irony that genocide supporters in politics and the corporate media are calling for Mandla Mandela to be banned from the UK, reprising Thatcher and many others’ attacks on his grandfather Nelson Mandela as a ‘terrorist’.” The Home Office concluded that this response did not address the substantive issues surrounding his support for violent groups.

Final Decision

Ultimately, the UK Home Office determined that Mandela’s presence in the UK posed too great a risk to public safety, particularly in light of the tensions his statements could create within Jewish communities. The letter concludes: “Your presence in the UK is considered to pose a threat to UK society as it would highly likely cause tensions amongst UK Jewish communities.”

Mandela’s visa refusal is final, with no right of appeal or administrative review. The Home Office emphasized that the decision does not prevent Mandela from expressing his views online or through other channels, but that his physical presence in the UK could lead to unacceptable risks.

Mandela Has His Say.

In response to the UK Home Office’s decision to refuse his visa, Mandela took to Instagram to issue a scathing rebuke of the UK government, accusing them of hypocrisy and complicity in supporting Israeli actions in Palestine. His post, in which he lambasts the UK for what he sees as a long history of colonial violence and double standards, reads:

"This is double-standards in the extreme and will be severely judged by history. Your hands are bloodied by the long list of countries that you have occupied and now you stand here again with oppression and bloodshed. Bloodshed that didn't start on the 7th October 2023 but has persisted since the creation of Apartheid Israel — massacre after massacre all supported by you. Will you not learn?"

Mandela’s statement reflects his ongoing criticism of Western nations' foreign policies, particularly their support for Israel, which he views as a continuation of oppression and colonial violence. His remarks not only respond to his visa refusal but also reiterate his broader political stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, a position that has landed him in hot water with the UK government.

It remains to be seen how this situation will unfold, but Mandela’s post clearly signals his intent to continue advocating for prescribed terrorist organisations despite being barred from entering the UK.