On the occasion of Nelson Mandela International Day, Adala UK honours the enduring legacy of a global icon whose life was devoted to justice, equality, and the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination. Nelson Mandela’s principled resistance to apartheid and colonialism remains a moral compass for human rights defenders and freedom movements around the world. Today, as we commemorate his life and message, we draw a direct and urgent parallel between the struggle of the South African people against apartheid and the ongoing, decades-long resistance of the Saharawi people against the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco.

Just as South Africa was once denied its freedom through racial domination and institutionalised oppression, the people of Western Sahara continue to be denied their basic rights through foreign military occupation, forced displacement, systemic repression, and the denial of their right to a free and fair referendum on self-determination a right recognised by the United Nations and codified in international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 on decolonisation.

It is in this context that Adala UK expresses its deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent position taken by South Africa’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, under the leadership of former President Jacob Zuma, in support of Morocco’s so-called “Autonomy Plan” for Western Sahara. This endorsement represents a stark and disturbing departure from South Africa’s historic solidarity with the Saharawi people and the broader principles of decolonisation and international legality that Nelson Mandela himself so passionately championed.

From Mandela’s Moral Clarity to Zuma’s Political Expediency

During the darkest years of apartheid, the South African liberation movement spearheaded by the African National Congress (ANC) and inspired by figures like Mandela called for international solidarity, boycotts, and sanctions to isolate the apartheid regime and support the South African people’s right to self-rule. Morocco was among those countries that supported the anti-apartheid struggle. It is therefore profoundly contradictory and morally incoherent for Zuma and the MK Party to now endorse a colonial occupation that echoes the very system South Africans fought so hard to dismantle.

Nelson Mandela stood unequivocally on the side of the oppressed, not the occupier. In contrast, Zuma’s public support for Morocco’s colonial claims articulated after a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita amounts to an endorsement of an illegal occupation marked by widespread human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture of Saharawi political prisoners, and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.

This shift not only betrays the legacy of Mandela but also emboldens Morocco’s impunity and undermines decades of African and international solidarity with Western Sahara. It sends a dangerous message: that justice can be traded for political expediency, and that the voices of the oppressed can be ignored in favour of diplomatic convenience.

Reaffirming Mandela’s Legacy: Solidarity with Western Sahara

On this day of reflection and action, Adala UK calls on all South Africans and freedom-loving people around the world to reaffirm the values that Nelson Mandela lived and died for: justice, dignity, freedom, and international solidarity. We urge the South African government and political parties to reject the MK Party’s position and reassert their unwavering support for the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination.

The liberation of Africa is not complete until Western Sahara is free.

In the words of Nelson Mandela:
“Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Today, we extend that sentiment to include the Saharawi people, whose struggle deserves the same principled solidarity that South Africans once demanded and received from the world.

Adala UK
18 July 2025
London, United Kingdom
www.adalauk.org

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