{"id":668,"date":"2015-05-13T00:42:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T00:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/?p=668"},"modified":"2015-05-13T11:11:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T11:11:07","slug":"benny-wenda-tours-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/?p=668","title":{"rendered":"Benny Wenda tours South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press Release<\/em><\/p>\n

West Papuan Independence Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Benny Wenda Tours South Africa<\/h2>\n
\"Benny<\/a>

Benny Wenda shaking hands with Chief Zwelivelile Mandela at Mveso, in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela.<\/p><\/div>\n

Exiled tribal leader Benny Wenda came to South Africa on the 16th of February to seek support for self-determination and freedom for his people in West Papua, who are currently suffering under the brutal Indonesian occupation. West Papua is the western half of the second largest island in the world; bordering Papua New Guinea it is home to 250 different tribes and the world\u2019s largest rainforest after the Amazon.<\/p>\n

Over 500,000 indigenous people have been slaughtered by the Indonesian military over the last 60 years. This \u2018silent genocide\u2019 is hidden from the international community, with foreign journalists banned from entering West Papua by the Indonesian authorities. Benny faces constant harassment and intimidation by the Indonesian government, but he refuses to stop making the cry of his people heard. He is calling on the people of South Africa to help West Papuans.<\/p>\n

Widespread Support<\/h3>\n

Benny received unprecedented support for West Papuan\u2019s right to self-determination and independence during his highly successful and historic tour. Mr Wenda lobbied politicians, spoke at major Universities, met with Amnesty International and other NGOs, and mobilised support from grassroots movements. Benny was delighted with the response of the individuals and groups he met, \u201cmy spirit has been strengthened by the genuine solidarity that I have received from everyone here, to take back to my people in West Papua.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meeting the Mandelas at Mveso<\/h3>\n

In one of the tour\u2019s most significant moments, Benny met Chief Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, at Mveso, the great Madiba\u2019s birthplace. Through this meeting he was enabled to \u201cfeel the spirit of the struggle and to receive Mandela\u2019s blessing for my people\u201d. The Mandela royal family and the Mvezo traditional council welcomed Benny, and he had the honour of meeting HRH Zulu King Dlamini and his delegation and HRH Thembu Queen Noluntu. It was an emotional day, which concluded with Chief Zwelivelile Mandela giving an inspirational and moving speech, declaring that Mandela\u2019s legacy and spirit will continue to live on in the West Papuan struggle.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAs the Mandela royal family and the Mvezo traditional council, you have our undying support. We will ensure that your voice doesn\u2019t become isolated and forgotten, for my grandfather represented the majority as well as the minority in the global community. He was the voice of the voiceless society and we therefore today wanted to say, that when we welcome you to this humble home of the Mandelas, know that you have our full support. We will continuously keep you in our prayers in your cause and wherever you need us to lean to your support, we will always be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Wenda also met with politicians in Parliament House, Cape Town. Benny was hosted in the offices by Chief Whip Stone Sizani who spoke at length with him about the history of the South African struggle. Mr Sizani told Mr Wenda that there was no need to convince him of West Papua\u2019s own struggle, because the people of South Africa had experienced the same suffering. He showed genuine support for the campaign and talked of how the West Papuan\u2019s fight for independence is now also South Africa\u2019s fight.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Benny Wenda raising the West Papuan flag with Mr PS Sizani MP, the Chief Whip of the African National Congress (ANC) and Mr Nkosi Mandla Mandela MP, the grandson of Nelson Mandela.<\/p><\/div>\n

Chief Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela attended to show his support. Mr Wenda was given a tour of Parliament House, where he had the honour of meeting Madame Speaker Baleka Mbete, and was also invited to bring the issue to the Houses of Parliament.<\/p>\n

For more information, photos, footage and to interview Mr Wenda, please contact:<\/p>\n

Benny: +44 (0)7411053953 office@bennywenda.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Kate: + 27 (0)715355439 kategethinglewis@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Clare: +44 (0)7793207233 claremharding3@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks and regards,
\nThe Free West Papua campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press Release West Papuan Independence Leader and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Benny Wenda Tours South Africa Exiled tribal leader Benny Wenda came to South Africa on the 16th of February to seek support for self-determination and freedom for his people in West Papua, who are currently suffering under the brutal Indonesian occupation. West Papua is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[83,85,82],"class_list":["post-668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-free-west-papua-campaign","tag-benny-wenda","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infopapua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}