Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met Monday in Jerusalem with an African king who heads an ethnic group based in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, according to the Israeli Embassy in South Africa.
King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo of the AbaThembu Kingdom led a delegation including Chief Apostle Caesar Nongqunga of the Twelve Apostles Church in Christ (TACC), Princess Ntando and Prince Sinethemba, and other AbaThembu Chiefs and royal family members, according to the embassy.
Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, @gidonsaar, met earlier today in Jerusalem with His Majesty King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo of the AbaThembu Kingdom, who is visiting Israel as part of a delegation hosted by the ministry.
— Embassy of Israel SA (@IsraelinSA) December 1, 2025
The delegation includes, among others, the… pic.twitter.com/k1Eu84PQYS
The group, which is being hosted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, will visit the southern Israel communities attacked during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and will also meet with former Israeli hostages.
South Africa and Israel have long downgraded diplomatic relations due to Pretoria’s vociferous anti-Israel stance, which predates the Hamas massacre and resulting war in Gaza.
Earlier this year, a group of 15 South African parliamentarians, including members of the national unity government, visited Israel in a show of faith-based support for the Jewish state and a rebuke of the Middle East policies of South Africa’s ruling ANC.
Last month, a delegation of 30 senior African Christian leaders from 10 countries across the continent also came to Israel on a joint religious and political mission.
