There comes a moment when political alliances reveal more than speeches ever could. The ANC’s conduct during 2025 showed us something deeply unsettling: it has chosen Hamas over Fatah. It has embraced militancy over moderation.
And in so doing it has abandoned the diplomatic legacy it claims to uphold. The first paragraph of the ANC’s February 7 press statement in 2024 proudly recited history, reminding us that the ANC and Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) had been aligned since the 1950s. It reiterated that Nelson Mandela met Yasser Arafat two weeks before his release, and insisted that the PLO embodied “a just struggle for freedom, self-determination and dignity”.
Yet when the time came to demonstrate loyalty to that legacy, the ANC did the opposite. Instead of strengthening ties with the secular national movement that built the PLO, represents Palestine at the UN and recognises Israel as a negotiating partner, the ANC rolled out the red carpet for Hamas. And it did it boldly, unapologetically, in the full glare of cameras at Luthuli House.
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On December 5 2023, just weeks after the horrors of October 7, Hamas was received at the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg by secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, with SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila also in attendance. Photographs from the meeting show Hamas officials in bilateral discussions with the ANC’s most senior leaders. They were welcomed at the highest political level and sat in the same rooms where ANC liberation giants once strategised and shaped the future of South Africa, underscoring the symbolic and historical importance of Luthuli House as the heart of the party’s political legacy.
The ANC statement even attempted to imply that Fatah was part of that delegation. Yet anyone who understands Palestinian politics knows how absurd that is. Fatah and Hamas do not travel together.
They have been locked in bitter conflict since 2007. They have fought bloody street battles in Gaza and strive to run separate governments. Their visions for Palestine are not only different but fundamentally opposed.
So why did the ANC try to mention them in one breath? Because it knew how things looked. It knew embracing Hamas alone would expose a shift in loyalty.
It tried to smooth the optics, but the truth stood naked. No Fatah official attended that meeting. Not one photograph.
Not one quote. Not one seat next to the ANC bigwigs. Yet months later, when Fatah’s deputy secretary-general, Sabri Saidam, arrived to commemorate 60 years of ANC-PLO friendship, the grand invitations disappeared.
There was no Luthuli House photo op. No top six. No secretary-general.
No ceremonial handshake before flashing cameras. Saidam, the man representing Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, head of the movement the ANC claims as its historical sibling, was met by regional structures and a lone member of the NEC subcommittee. Sixty years of shared struggle.
And the PLO got a podium in Ekurhuleni instead of a seat at the Luthuli House table. Fatah/PLO and Hamas are not the same, and the ANC knows it
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