Today marks three decades of a free South Africa. For many South Africans, Freedom Day is significant as it commemorates the end of apartheid in South Africa on April 27, 1994, when the nation held its first democratic elections.



South Africa is heading into election season now with the national polls set to be held on May 29.



The country&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the people from the Union Buildings in the nation’s capital in Tshwane, Pretoria.



“Exactly thirty years ago on this day, freedom’s bell rang across our great land&#8230; On that day, as we cast our votes for the first time, a great heaviness lifted from our shoulders,&#8221; Ramaphosa said. “Even though our backs bore scars of the cruel lashes of those who had whipped and subjected us for more than three hundred years, on that day, as a united people, we stood tall.”



After casting his ballot, the country&#8217;s late President Nelson Mandela described April 27, 1994 as the beginning of a new era for South Africa.



The day holds great significance for the country as it was the first time that all South Africans, no matter their race or color, could vote. Commemorating those who “fought for justice, peace and freedom”, Ramaphosa urged all South Africans to see how far the country has come. As an “ideology”, Ramaphosa said that the apartheid regime was a system that sought to humiliate and degrade.



“Over the course of three centuries, the dignity of the black inhabitants of this land had been deliberately and cruelly denied, first by colonialism and then by apartheid,” Ramaphosa said. “Millions of black South Africans – African, Colored and Indian – were at the mercy of laws and practices that were enforced to serve the interests of a white minority. Their land was taken, their labor was exploited, their prospects were stunted.”



Today was also about remembering Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected president.



“In his memory, we will continue to work tirelessly to achieve the democratic ideals to which he and many other heroes and heroines dedicated their lives,” Ramaphosa told South Africans. “Few days in the life of our nation can compare to that day, when freedom was born.”



The Nelson Mandela Foundation tweeted: “Let’s remember why voting matters. On 29 May we have a chance to shape our future. Every vote counts – let’s make sure our voices are heard.”



According to Ramaphosa, although South Africa has experienced setbacks, the country’s economy has tripled in size since 1994.



Unemployment, however, still remains South Africa’s most pressing challenge, but Ramaphosa stated that the number of South Africans in employment increased from eight million in 1994 to over 16.7 million now.

Nelson Mandela Voting, 1994

Remembering The Day Freedom Was Born, South Africa Celebrates 30 Years Of Democracy

Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5 2013. A decade on, what has changed.



Today marks a decade since the loss of Nelson Mandela, South Africa&#8217;s emblematic hero, anti-apartheid champion, and a figure of global reverence. Mandela&#8217;s passing, a moment of profound national and international mourning, has become a pivotal point of reflection, particularly as his envisioned ‘Rainbow Nation’ South Africa remains elusive as the country grapples with severe socioeconomic and political challenges.



Professor Jonathan Jansen, Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and a respected political columnist, reflects on this shift: &#8220;While Nelson Mandela is held in high esteem across the country, it&#8217;s true that with time, the intensity of commemoration fades. This is true for everyone, not just for the great man himself.&#8221;



Mandela&#8217;s contested legacy surfaces in the Nelson Mandela Foundation&#8217;s bold initiative – an interactive exhibition titled Mandela is Dead hosted in collaboration with The Forge and Stellenbosch University at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Houghton, Johannesburg.



The show encapsulates the growing debate over whether it&#8217;s time to reevaluate Mandela&#8217;s enduring influence on South African society and politics. The exhibition, which launched on the eve of December, attempts to nuance the legacy of the iconic leader.



&#8220;In the past few years, there has been a lot of contention around the meaning of Mandela&#8217;s legacy. Students and intellectuals are debating whether he was truly a &#8216;miracle maker.&#8217; Some criticize him for giving too much to F.W. de Klerk and the apartheid government [during the transition to democracy]. Others represent a more intellectual view, similar to that expressed by someone like [historian] Colin Bundy, which acknowledges his great impact despite his own challenges,&#8221; Jansen observes.



A symbol of resistance and reconciliation, Mandela led the African National Congress (ANC) through the darkest days of apartheid and shepherded the nation into a democratic era – notably, without a major civil conflict that much of the world saw as a foregone conclusion. His vision was of a non-racial, prosperous, and democratic South Africa, ideals that now face scrutiny amid the country&#8217;s lingering socio-economic crises.



&#8220;There is no longer an unconditional celebration of Mandela. His legacy is now viewed through both cynical and pragmatic lenses, considering all his complexities, including his weaknesses. With the current challenges the country faces, it&#8217;s hard to conjure up an image of a flawless leader, especially when basic services are lacking, and there are ongoing issues like loadshedding, children dying due to poor sanitation. This contrasts sharply with the spirit of the first decade following liberation, which was about moving from liberation to survival,&#8221; Jansen adds.



South Africa today wrestles with profound challenges: state capture, frequent power outages and rampant unemployment plague the nation. These issues starkly contrast with Mandela’s dream, spotlighting the gaps between his aspirations and the current realities. In his own desire to ensure a non-violent transition to democracy in South Africa, Mandela made accommodations that some see as allowing the structures of inequality under apartheid to continue to exist.



&#8220;His legacy has done nothing but keep the poor poor and the rich rich, freedom is not free,” reads one message written by a university student on a message board that formed part of the Mandela Is Dead exhibition, which provided a canvas for the reflections of South Africa’s youth, revealing a deepening rift between Mandela’s vision and the contemporary South African experience.



While Robben Island, Mandela&#8217;s long-term prison home, commemorated his legacy with a running event, the broader national observance was muted, highlighted only by a solidarity march for Palestinians in Pretoria. At the time of publishing, neither the ANC nor the Presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa had issued a commemoration of the day.



Mandela&#8217;s ANC, once the unchallenged political force in South Africa, faces the prospect of losing majorities in key provinces in the upcoming general election. This potential shift signals a transformation in public sentiment and perhaps a reevaluation of Mandela’s influence in contemporary South African politics.



&#8220;I&#8217;ve noticed a sentiment among my comrades, who are saying that the country has strayed far from its path. They question the point of celebrating the achievements of great men from 30 years ago,” continues Jansen. “Even people who were cabinet ministers under Mandela feel this way. The public mood has shifted. The unfettered celebration of Mandela as a great man isn&#8217;t as common anymore, except in smaller, more insular communities.”



As South Africa confronts these realities, the Mandela is Dead exhibition is a call to action, echoing his granddaughter Ndileka Mandela&#8217;s words at the exhibition launch, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it. Let us reclaim it.”



Malala Yousafzai, a global advocate for girls&#8217; education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate, delivered a poignant and impactful speech at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, coinciding with the 10th anniversary. She drew parallels between her struggle and Mandela’s legacy of justice and equality: &#8220;Millions of Afghan girls are effectively imprisoned but they fight on, calling for justice, calling for the world to stand with them.&#8221; 



Her words echo Mandela’s lifelong commitment to fighting injustice and underscore the ongoing global struggle for human rights and equality.

A group of American and South African students, aged from 11 to 19, met with Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, on 2 June 2009. This is part of a series of activities ahead of Mandela Day on 18 July.

Nelson Mandela: Reflections On The 10th Anniversary Of The Former South African President’s Passing

Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of South Africa&#8217;s first democratically-elected President Nelson Mandela and his second wife Winnie Mandela, passed away on Monday evening after a long battle with cancer.



The family released a statement saying she was surrounded by friends and family and that “recent scans revealed significant disease progression including fibrosis in the lungs as well as several emboli”.



The author and global activist had always been open about her illness and treatment on social media (specifically on Instagram).



In a feature for FORBES WOMAN AFRICA in 2014, Mandela spoke about her string of personal tragedies and her thoughts when she received news of her diagnosis: “My father’s older sister had died from breast cancer. So I thought I was going to die.” Undergoing reconstructive surgery, she said she considered her scars “battle wounds”.



On September 5 this year, she celebrated her “last day of chemo” in an Instagram post. “[I am] finally back home…” she said.



The Nelson Mandela Foundation also released a statement mourning the loss of a “beloved grandchild of Mum Winnie and Madiba”.



“When her inspiring memoir When Hope Whispers was published, she graciously signed copies for all our staff and ran a leadership session for the staff around the book,” the foundation said on Tuesday.



“Zoleka was a tireless activist for healthcare and justice. Her work in raising awareness about cancer prevention and her unwavering commitment to breaking down the stigma surrounding the disease will continue to inspire us all.”



The feature in the October/November 2014 issue of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA aptly captured her sparkling personality and indomitable strength.



#RestInPower!

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Zoleka Mandela, Activist And Nelson Mandela’s Granddaughter, Passes Away Aged 43

Quote Boards (Twitter Post)

From Madiba To The Pan-Africanist: Playing His Part For The Continent

The top anti-apartheid human rights lawyer, who was famously part of the legal team that defended Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, and Walter Sisulu at the Rivonia Treason Trial, died of ‘natural causes’ on Wednesday at the age of 92.  



When he was once asked to speak about George Bizos, former South African president Nelson Mandela said: “I don’t think words can sufficiently express our indebtedness to men and women like George Bizos.”&nbsp;



The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), as well as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, confirmed the passing of the lawyer who advocated and campaigned against apartheid.&nbsp;



“Another giant of South African history and of global struggles for justice has fallen,” the foundation’s Chief Executive Sello Hatang said in a statement. &nbsp;



“The news of George Bizos&#8217; passing is sad news for us in South Africa&#8230; He contributed immensely to the attainment of our democracy,” said Ramaphosa, during an engagement with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) on Wednesday evening. &nbsp;



Ramaphosa also stated in the briefing that he had spoken to Bizos two months ago and it did appear that his “health was already not in good shape”. &nbsp;



“Today, as we mourn George’s passing, we acknowledge his role in shaping the democracy we all enjoy today. He is, without a doubt, a hero of the struggle. South Africa has lost another exceptional son,” said filmmaker Anant Singh, who made the Mandela biopic,&nbsp;The Long Walk to Freedom. &nbsp;



Beyond the trial, Mandela’s and Bizos’s seven-decade friendship was “legendary”. Recalling their friendship in its statement, the NMF noted how in the last years of Mandela’s life, Bizos and the former president were often found together sharing memories or heading off to see places of significance in their life journeys.&nbsp;



“He was really devoted to the cause,” Mandela said of Bizos, according to NMF. “When he appeared for us, he did not do so as a man who is appearing for strangers, he did so as his contribution to a great cause to which we were all committed.”&nbsp;



Bizos met Mandela while studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1941. While practicing to be an attorney, Bizos became an activist for the African National Congress. From the 1950s, Bizos was often called to defend Mandela in court, including when he was part of the Madiba defense team for the Rivonia Trial in 1963. &nbsp;



“He had an incisive legal mind and was one of the architects of our constitution,&#8221; Ramaphosa said in his message.

TO GO WITH A STORY BY Abhik Kumar Chanda

Remembering A Hero: South Africans Mourn The Demise Of George Bizos

Zindziswa &#8216;Zindzi&#8217; Mandela has died. The 59-year-old is believed to have breathed her last in a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of July 13, Monday, SABC is reporting.



Zindzi was the daughter of struggle icons, South Africa&#8217;s former president Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and currently serving as South Africa&#8217;s ambassador to Denmark.



In December 2014, Zindzi graced the cover of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA alongside her mother, a year after her father’s death. 







<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="733" height="960" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forbes-cover.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-46476" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forbes-cover.jpg 733w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forbes-cover-300x393.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forbes-cover-600x786.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forbes-cover-229x300.jpg 229w" sizes="(max-width: 733px) 100vw, 733px" /></figure>



She lost her 13-year-old granddaughter, Zenani, in a car crash after a pre-tournament concert during the 2010 FIFA World Cup that took place in South Africa.



In 2018, her mother Winnie, passed away. 



Zindzi is survived by her four children, husband and grandchildren.



.

zindzi

Zindzi Mandela passes away, aged 59

This FORBES AFRICA photojournalist reflects on that moment when the late struggle hero recounted to him what turned him into a South African revolutionary.



It was in 2017 that I, a 29-year-old FORBES AFRICA photojournalist from Dobsonville, in the sprawling Soweto township of Johannesburg, landed in Cape Town, The Mother City, for the first time.



There were more firsts in store: my first trip to the infamous Long Street in the city for beer and banter with the locals. It was a long night, to be followed the next morning, with my meeting, for the first time, with the legendary Denis Goldberg of the 1963 Rivonia Trial.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The apartheid struggle veteran and hero had escaped the death sentence, along with former South African President, Nelson Mandela. Goldberg was the man who had excitedly shouted, “It’s life, life is wonderful”, after receiving his life sentence verdict.



I was to meet Goldberg at the Castle of Good Hope to speak about his then lawyer, Bram Fischer. It was a windy morning and sprinting towards the castle, I couldn’t keep a South African veteran waiting. 



I was on time, and as he walked towards me, I remember asking myself, ‘why wasn’t this man smoking a pipe and talking to us from his veranda at his home in Hout Bay’?



Our conversation lasted longer than expected; his stories were captivating as they took me to that time and space in my country before democracy.



And then, he took me to his childhood when he recalled vividly, his teacher, Miss Cook.



“Miss Cook was blonde, brilliant, and beautiful, with lovely perfume. I was madly in love at the age of six. But we had a kid in the class that looked different and spoke funny. One morning, Miss Cook’s watch had disappeared from her desk and she was very upset, but she used it to educate us because we blamed Noelen. She got us to understand that we were blaming Noelen not because we saw him [take the watch], but because he was different. He was an outcast, his clothes were dirty; it was a school for white boys in 1939,” recalled Goldberg.



That incident changed his life; it helped turn him into a revolutionary, he said.



Goldberg was in prison for over two decades.



Sadly, the veteran, aged 87, died in South Africa last week. That windy morning in Cape Town will forever be etched on my mental camera.

Denis Goldberg 918

‘My First Time Meeting Denis Goldberg’

Farewell one of Mandela’s last survivors of his band of brothers.



I once asked Denis Goldberg what he thought of one of his high-ranking former comrades taking R500,000 in bribes from a crook.



“What a cheapskate!” came back the reply faster than a gunslinger’s bullet. I expected more pious reply, not with Denis.



“He has sold out his job, his country, his beliefs, his politics and his morals – for half a million bucks?”



Denis said it with that deadpan look on his face. Believe me, he was dead serious and angry, but his expression dissolved into that famous smile of his that made you think we frail human beings all make mistakes.



That was Denis and his attitude in a nutshell – he was principled and far from enamoured, in later years, with all that was going on in the government that he fought to put in power and was never afraid to say so; and yet, he never forgot that we are all human and vulnerable, something that fueled his tireless charity work.



I first met Denis at his home near the crashing waves of Hout Bay, near Cape Town, the city where he was born and should have lived out his days as a comfortable engineer in the suburbs. Instead, he spent years training revolutionaries in the art of warfare and making bombs.



We got to know each other during the making of a three-hour documentary, Liliesleaf – The Untold Story, for CNBC Africa on the Rivonia trial, in 1963, where he faced the death penalty with Nelson Mandela. We kept in touch down the years with lunch, a phone call and the odd laugh about the absurdity of politics.



I shall never forget the warm, human story he told on that summer day back in 2009 about how he sneaked small squares of chocolate to a chained and emaciated Mandela, in short trousers, who police had dragged from prison to face sabotage charges.



“You don’t get sweeteners in prison,” said Goldberg with a smile.



Alongside Mandela, on that day, were the leading lights of the liberation movement: Walter Sisulu; Govan Mbeki; Ray Mhlaba; Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed Kathrada. Only Mlangeni, who will be 95 in June, survives. &nbsp;



The authorities hoped they would put them away forever. They nearly succeeded and certainly set back the liberation of South Africa by decades by incarcerating the leaders of the movement for life.



“’There was Mandela standing in the dock defiantly and forcing the judge to look him in the eye,” Goldberg said as if the hearing were yesterday at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria.



For some reason, Denis and I got on like a house on fire. He reminded me of my grandfathers – a hard man ready to fight for what was right, yet humane and compassionate with it.



The tough side of him came out in that interview. He told how the special branch officers used to taunt him across the courtroom, as the evidence was presented, by running their forefingers across their throats with a grin of death.



“I had to think about how to respond and in the end I did this back…” says Denis giving it the middle finger. Anyone who can give the finger to their captors in the shadow of death is tough enough.



Then, when he was relating the harrowing tale of his fractured relationship with his daughter, Hilary, came out the old soldier hide of granite.



It was a sorrowful tale. Denis’s daughter worshipped him from afar as a latter day Robin Hood in the 20 years he was in prison. When he was released in 1984, they were reunited in Israel. A few months later, the two fell out. It started when Hilary filtered the pile of hate mail from his daily post.



“I told her, Hilary, Hilly, you are trying to control me like they did in prison,” he said.&nbsp;



It all blew up. An angry Hilary told her father he had never been around and was always away fighting the struggle, you could see the pain on Denis’s face.



“It took five years and a lot of counseling, but we reconciled. Unfortunately, shortly after that, she died.”



By this time, both the young cameraman and myself, I am not ashamed to say this, had cast off our professional masks and had tears rolling down our cheeks.



“What’s the matter with you guys?” shot back Goldberg in mock outrage.



“I thought journalists were supposed to be tough. I don’t know, the journalists of today!”



Then we all laughed, once again Denis had made people feel they would see the sun tomorrow.



His humour was legendary, as was his compassion. He once told me that he was handed three life sentences but was given a bulk discount and only served one. On the other side of the coin, he told me of the horror of lying in his cell listening to condemned men screaming as warders dragged them to the gallows. It was pure Denis that he learned the guitar so he could play a heartfelt musical tribute to the condemned.



Only Denis could have led the laughter in court when he and his comrades slipped the noose.



“Life and life is wonderful,” he called out when someone asked the verdict of the dock.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Amid all the laughter, sound and fury of the life of Denis Goldberg, there is one cool winter’s afternoon that I will always remember him by. It was at Liliesleaf , in 2013, at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the raid on Rivonia that led him to spending 20 years in prison.



It was a draining day for an 80-year-old. There were journalists asking questions and taking pictures everywhere. Denis was patient and explained his story to those too young and green to know, but as the day wore on, I could see he was getting tired. It was a Rivonia reunion with lawyers Joel Joffe, who became an insurance tycoon in Britain, and George Bizos, still fighting the good fight, there to reminisce with the men they saved from the noose.



On top of that, Denis had to settle a 50-year-old grudge with the late Bob Hepple, a former comrade who was up to his neck in the sabotage trial. He had negotiated his way out of police cells with a decision to turn state witness that led to him skipping the country to a knighthood and a comfortable life as a professor at Cambridge University.



“At the time, I told him you do this and people will cross the street to avoid you,” Denis told me.



To rub salt in the wound, Hepple sent Denis, insensitively, a Christmas card in prison in his first year of incarceration. Fifty years later, Denis shook hands with Hepple and buried the grudge with good humour.



My abiding memory of Denis came later on that day as the sunlight dimmed along with his fading energy. A young schoolgirl, in uniform, who must have been about 13, approached him as he was heading for the car to take him to the hotel.



“Excuse me, Mr Goldberg, I am doing my school project on the Rivonia trial, can I talk to you?” she says. Even I thought an exhausted Denis was going to decline politely, but he sat down and smiled.



More than an hour later I saw Denis sitting at the table telling patiently his story to the school girl making copious notes. Maybe she will fight for freedom one day too.



I smiled and walked away. That was Denis and I was proud to have known him.

Denis Goldberg – The Gentle Lion Of The Struggle

The world of comic books is dominated by stories from the West. Two South African brothers are helping reshape that narrative with a central character inspired by the iconic hero.



Nelson Mandela had his own following at the recent Comic Con Africa convention at the end of September in Johannesburg.



At the center of all the organized chaos at the event at the
Gallagher Convention Centre attended by 71,000 visitors over four days was a
comic book bearing the late South African president’s name created by brothers
Phemelo, 28, and Omphile Dibodu, 25.



The comic book, Young Nelson, features an African superhero,
for readers in the continent and beyond.



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Co-founders of Rainbow Nations Comics, a black-owned comic book and publishing company established in 2018, the Dibodu brothers were born and bred in Rustenburg, known as ‘platinum city’, in South Africa’s North West province. 



Far from their hometown, the duo were in the big city for
the event, showcasing their creations to an adept audience – people dressed as
superheroes, cyborgs and zombies – who crowded around their stand and were as
colorful as the comic books they were thumbing through. 



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“Wow, that looks cool, who is Young Nelson?” asked a curious
bystander.



Phemelo was ready with his answers even as his brother
assisted with more queries.&nbsp; 



“Young Nelson is a proudly South African black comic book inspired by the late Nelson Mandela,” responded Phemelo.



In front of him, on the table, a large poster of Young Nelson, featuring a young black male with the South African flag over his shoulders and a gold-colored map of Africa emblazoned on his shirt.



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This day saw the launch of the very first issue of Young Nelson titled An Act of Kindness, for R20 ($1.3) a copy.



Phemelo, the writer, and Omphile, the illustrator, say they
were inspired by Mandela and some of their own life experiences growing up.



“I think I wanted to pay tribute to the old man in a way
that it would hopefully inspire others to look at him in the way that many
South Africans see him,” says Phemelo to FORBES AFRICA.



In the story, ‘Young Nelson’ gets his nickname when he volunteers at a local boxing gym. The people watching him witness his skills and ability to solve problems, so they equate him to the young Mandela, who was famously a boxer in his youth.



“[The lead character] doesn’t like the nickname at first but
once he sees the significance of it and his heroics, how they are taken up by
the community to represent who they are, he takes the name and rolls with it
and that’s his superhero name going forward with the series,” Phemelo explains.



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Young Nelson’s real name in the comic is actually ‘Thabo Mo
Afrika’, inspired by South African president Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded
Mandela.



“ ‘Mo Afrika’ is a generic surname [which] translated into
English is ‘an African’. So I wanted to see every African seeing themselves in
Young Nelson,” Phemelo adds.



The young writer’s plan is to take his product to bigger markets, but for now, the African comic industry is a tough market to capture for lack of any funding.



“Imagine getting paid for what you are doing. That would [make a] big difference. Once people realize that their art can be compensated, more of us will actually start creating content the world would want to start reading,” he says. 



Bill Masuku, a speaker at the Comic Con event and who is
also a digital artist, shares the same sentiments.



“In Zimbabwe, where I am from, it is pretty grassroots.
Everyone is self-publishing and if you don’t really have a passion for it, the
book won’t come out,” says Masuku, who has been a part of the African comic
industry for over three years. He is the founder of Enigma Comix Africa, and
creator of Razor-Man and Captain South Africa. 



“As much as new creatives are coming out every day, what
really makes the comic book industry is distribution. And seeing that [Young
Nelson] has such widespread potential really makes me hopeful for where we are
going,” says Masuku.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-1024x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42303" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-100x100.jpg 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-600x600.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n-80x80.jpg 80w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/53559971_409471066265829_2304970625718228030_n.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



For comic books to thrive on the continent, they need a big
financial push from publishers, distributors or investors, unlike any other
medium.



The Dibodu brothers were fortunate to have been sponsored by
the Rustenburg Herald, a weekly local newspaper in Rustenburg.



“The problem with creating by yourself is that you can only
create at a certain rate and you do burn out. So you find people who have been
making comics who have three or four issues out and it’s easy to forget about
them as a consumer,” he adds.



Globally, platforms like Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan make it
easy for Japanese creatives to publish their work as the comic book and manga
industry is thriving there, making it one of the best-selling magazines. Weekly
Shōnen Jump has sold over 7.5 billion copies since 1968.



But the African comic industry has a long way to go.



Kugali, a digital platform founded by three entrepreneurs
and friends from Nigeria and Uganda, is designed to help people find and share
the best African narratives and comics. It is an entertainment company that
focuses on telling stories inspired by Africans, offering much-needed exposure
to young creatives such as Masuku and the Dibodu brothers. For now, the
reception the Dibodus are receiving give them some hope.



“It’s been awesome and inspirational. I didn’t know people
felt the same way as me. It’s amazing when people are [reading] the story of
the character and people are saying ‘you know what, that’s what we need’,” says
Phemelo. At the end of Comic Con, they managed to sell over 300 copies of Young
Nelson.



“People are catching onto the culture. I think it might even
grow bigger than the American industry only because I think we are a very
artistic community… Whether you look at the hieroglyphics in Egypt or the cave
paintings by the bushmen in South Africa, we draw,” he says.



He also plans to sell his comics to local book stores in the country.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1018" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-1024x1018.png" alt="" class="wp-image-42306" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-1024x1018.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-300x298.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-100x100.png 100w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-600x597.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-150x150.png 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-768x764.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-1536x1527.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster-80x80.png 80w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Young-Nelson-Poster.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The team is currently working on their next creation – a
black African female superhero called Imbokodo.



“We are looking for new creators we can partner with and
create our own justice league, our own Avengers, to actually have young kids in
South Africa look at their heroes the same way Americans look at their heroes
in the Comic Cons to come.” 



Young Nelson is a refreshing reminder that not all heroes wear capes.

RNC – Phemelo Dibodu (left) and Omphile Dibodu (right)

Colors For Mandela

It is a quarter of a century since the end of apartheid in South Africa. But it’s easy to forget how complex, difficult and violent the birth of full democracy really was. This was particularly true in KwaZulu-Natal, where battles between the African National Congress (ANC) and the mainly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)&nbsp;<a href="https://csvr.org.za/docs/policeviolence/justicedenied.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">claimed the lives of as many as 20,000</a>&nbsp;in the decade between 1984 and 1994.



In the three months before the first elections in April 1994 an estimated 1 000 people&nbsp;<a href="https://csvr.org.za/docs/policeviolence/justicedenied.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">were killed</a>. The British and Americans were becoming increasingly concerned. The conflict between Inkatha and the ANC was just one crisis: another was developing with far right white extremists, who were threatening to resort to violence.



The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported that there was an:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">eight in 10 chance that violence will surge immediately before and during the election, when emotions are at their highest.</blockquote>



The agency also warned of the threat of a right wing coup, although it considered this “unlikely”. (This CIA report is available in hard copy only.)



As the situation grew increasingly tense, Britain’s Prime Minister John Major and the US’s President Bill Clinton became personally involved. Their interventions are shown in documents just released by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">the UK National Archives</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284690/original/file-20190718-116539-n8y2tv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""/><figcaption>The cover page of the CIA document.&nbsp;Author provided</figcaption></figure>



The documents reveal just what a close-run thing the first truly democratic election was, and how much time and effort Britain and the USA spent ensuring that the voting went ahead.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Desperate times</h4>



Prime Minister Major took a phone call from Nelson Mandela on 22 February, in which the ANC leader described the situation as “very difficult.” Major briefed Mandela on a meeting between the British ambassador and the Inkatha leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi. He gave Mandela a full account of the conversation, which he warmly welcomed.



On 24 February there is the first indication of a joint Anglo-American mediation effort to resolve the crisis. This&nbsp;<a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/15736.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">arose</a>&nbsp;during planning for a visit to Washington by Major three days later.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Our starting point is that the situation has now deteriorated to the point where it seems very unlikely that left to themselves the South Africans will reach an agreement that will enable to participate in the elections. The consequences are likely to be very serious.</blockquote>



The British suggested that Major and Clinton might “offer their joint help to the transition process”.



The following day – having held discussions with Mandela, Buthelezi and President Frederik de Klerk – the British ambassador in Pretoria, Sir Anthony Reeve, was able to report that all three were prepared to go along with the Anglo-American initiative, although with some reservations. The ambassador concluded:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">These responses do, I think, give us the green light to consult the Americans in detail on our thinking.</blockquote>



The proposal was discussed between Mandela and Buthelezi at a meeting on March 1 and both leaders agreed to “explore” the possibility of international mediation. Lord Carrington, who had negotiated the end of Rhodesia and its transition to Zimbabwe in 1980, was on a lecture tour of South Africa. He was approached by the ANC’s Thabo Mbeki who asked whether he might act as one of a panel of mediators.



Others suggested were US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Tanzanian head of state Julius Nyerere.



There followed intensive discussions between London and Washington, over how such mediation might work; indeed, Carrington and Kissinger travelled to South Africa. In the end a failure to agree on the terms of reference for the mediators, and South African government fears that the elections might be delayed, put paid to the plan.



It has been claimed the crisis – the most immediate was that Buthelezi was threatening to boycott the poll – was resolved by&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="http://spas.ku.ac.ke/index.php/faculty/faculty-profiles/89-faculty/44-prof-john-okumu" target="_blank">surprising last minute mediation</a>&nbsp;by Kenyan Professor, John Okumu. Other Commonwealth envoys who had excellent contacts with both the ANC leadership and Buthelezi, including the late Ghanaian diplomat Moses Anafu, doubt this, arguing that forces that led Buthelezi into the election were&nbsp;<a href="https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/6115/7/Moses_Anafu_Transcript_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">much bigger</a>.



Indeed, Buthelezi’s brinkmanship had ensured key constitutional concessions. Okumu’s intervention seems then a face-saving device for the IFP leader. A joint statement was agreed between Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk on 19 April, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Govern_Political/ANC_18598.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">allowed the election to take place</a>&nbsp;just a week later (April 26-28).



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Close-run thing</h4>



It had been a close-run thing and South Africa’s first truly democratic election almost came to grief. But there were two more potential obstacles.



In the tense run-up to polling day, a&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="http://hurisa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Goldstone-Booklet.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>&nbsp;on the role of the apartheid state in stoking internal tension and violence was published. The Commission of Inquiry Regarding the Prevention of Public Violence and Intimidation, led by Justice Richard Goldstone had been established in 1991: its report was published on 21 April 1994. 



Judge Goldstone’s investigations revealed that sections of the South African Police had armed Inkatha, and pointed to attempts by senior police officers to&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="http://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume2/chapter7/subsection2.htm" target="_blank">subvert the work of his enquiry</a>.



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The charges were explosive and for a while the judge and his family were clearly at risk from white extremists. With de Klerk’s support and the knowledge of Mandela, Goldstone, his wife and a “key witness” (a former South African police officer) asked whether they might come to Britain. John Major agreed, and they were given temporary asylum and a safe house.



The second obstacle was the South African government’s clandestine chemical and biological weapons programme, known as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/project-coast-apartheid-s-chemical-and-biological-warfare-programme-296.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">“Project Coast.”</a>The British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, contacted Washington about the possibility of issuing a formal public protest unless President de Klerk publicly admitted his government’s involvement in the use of these weapons against ANC and Namibian prisoners.



The British had apparently intervened to prevent the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CSDS/Books/therollbackofsoafricachembio2.pdf" target="_blank">proliferation</a>&nbsp;of these weapons to other rogue states or terrorist groups. On April 11 the US and British ambassadors delivered their protest to President de Klerk – which apparently did the trick. 



There was an agreement that all the chemical and biological systems would be destroyed and one of the key South African experts, Wouter Basson, who had travelled to Libya on several occasions, was&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/wouter-basson/" target="_blank">subsequently prosecuted</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Political triumph</h4>



The April 1994 election proved to be a watershed for South Africa. In technical terms, the election was a fiasco, but it was a political triumph, according to the Commonwealth’s leading election official,&nbsp;<a href="https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/6121/1/Carl_Dundas_Transcript.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">Carl Dundass</a>. Inkatha’s surprising victory in Natal-KwaZulu strongly suggest Natal “horsetrading” involved overturning an actual ANC victory to manage anticipated post-election violence.



Despite all the violence, tension and drama the election ended apartheid and allowed Major to phone Mandela with his congratulations – a highly satisfactory conclusion to an intense period of international diplomacy.



-Sue Onslow; Reader, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study



-Martin Plaut; Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study



-The Conversation



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Archive Documents Reveal The US And UK’s Role In The Dying Days Of Apartheid

Songs of the struggle and music steeped in South Africa’s
apartheid past. The story of how the Soweto Gospel Choir&nbsp; captivated the world



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Three Grammys in 12 years. And more global awards in their
17 years of existence.



In February this year, at the 61st annual Grammy awards in
Los Angeles, South Africa’s child and Africa’s pride, the Soweto Gospel Choir
(SGC) walked up to the stage to a rousing ovation.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



They had won the Best World Music Album for Freedom. More than an album dedicated to Nelson Mandela, that word stood for triumph, it stood for the freedom where it all started – Soweto.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="691" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg" alt="" data-id="40965" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40965" class="wp-image-40965" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-600x405.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-768x518.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir through the years. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="702" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg" alt="" data-id="40966" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40966" class="wp-image-40966" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-600x411.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir with Nelson Mandela. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Since its inception, the gospel choir, hailing from South
Africa’s biggest township, Soweto (short for South West Townships), has been on
more international stages than they can keep count of.&nbsp; 



Its founders, Australian promoter Beverly Bryer and the late
David Mulovhedzi, created something so monumental that the world had to sit up
and listen. Bryer was born in South Africa, and lived and worked in the
Australian music scene for a few years before moving back to South Africa in
1995. 



During her stint in Australia, she connected with a number
of music promoters who took talent from all over the world to Down Under. 



Her love was always music but pop and rock rather than
African gospel.



In 2001, Bryer received a call from one of the promoters she had met in Australia asking if there were any interesting South African artists he could showcase in Australia. She suggested Umoja, a South African theater production. Bryer knew the producer and the production was a huge global success.



After watching the cast on stage, the promoter was blown
away and backed the production all the way to Australia. 



In 2002, Bryer received another call saying the gospel aspect of Umoja was extremely popular and everyone loved it. 



“I was asked to form a choir with Mulovhedzi and we had
about three months to form&nbsp; one because
they didn’t want an existing choir but a new one. I asked Mulovhedzi to bring
his choir director expertise and I learned very quickly about gospel music,”
she recalls.



That was the birth of the Soweto Gospel Choir.



“The name was a very important decision and it came quite
naturally because most of the members were from Soweto, so that was giving the
artists their location. 



“We thought a lot of the languages the choir is going to be
singing in, people around the world were not going to know or understand, but
the only thing they knew was Soweto, Nelson Mandela and the struggle. So, we
marked it with something that people knew, the name,” Bryer says. 



Through word-of-mouth, within the three months given to them, they had auditions, and went into studio and recorded their first album, Voices From Heaven, which shot up to number one on the Billboards World Music Chart within three weeks of release in 2002. Three months after that, the choir went on to tour Australia.



The six-week tour sold out and the milestones have not
stopped since. 



Bryer recalls promoters coming out for a show and one saying to the choir that they had something special.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We said to her that ‘we don’t know how it’s going to go, so if you want to take a chance with us, sure. If it doesn’t work, everyone goes home’.”&nbsp; </blockquote>



Bryer was advised the Edinburgh International Festival was
where musicians cut their teeth and that was where promoters from around the
world looked for talent.&nbsp; 



There were thousands of acts and the SGC were ultimately
among the most popular at the festival, and that’s when other international promoters
wanted to work with them. 



Edinburgh got the ball rolling. 



At the end of 2003, the choir was presented with a big local
event in the form of the first 46664 concert; an AIDS benefit concert in honor
of the late South Africa president Nelson Mandela. 



That concert still gives Mandlenkosi Modawu the jitters when
he thinks of its scale and magnitude. One of the older members in the choir,
Modawu is the bass singer and drummer from Witbank, Mpumalanga, but moved to
Mofolo, Soweto, shortly after joining the choir. He has been with the choir for
over 15 years now. 



“The drummer prior to me was troublesome, so it was easier
for me to get into the choir after my auditions; fortunately, I am also a
singer and that was a bonus for me,” he says. 



He speaks of the Edinburgh International Festival as though the performance was yesterday and keeps reiterating that among the 2,000 acts, they were the best. 



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In the ocean of experiences, Modawu has moments he will
always treasure.



“I think our break came after Scotland (Edinburgh
International Festival), and when I think about the 46664 concert in 2003, I
get shivers even today, mainly because we were considered one of the smallest
acts in that concert but we ended up backing a whole lot of artists like Aretha
Franklin, Stevie Wonder, U2 and other big names,” he says. 



In 2007, SGC won their first Grammy. 



South African gospel was recognized globally and their
mantel was filling up. 



“The second Grammy came as a surprise, I think it’s because
of the collaborations we did with big name artists around the world. They got
us recognized in the global music fraternity.



“While working on the album that got us our third Grammy, we
drew from the experiences we had from the struggle, stories told by our parents
during apartheid and those songs really touched the world because of the
emotions, and it moved people,” Modawu says. 



Sadly, Mulovhedzi could not share the excitement of their
third Grammy. 



“His passing was devastating because he was our founding
father. It shocked us, but we had to accept and keep the legacy. One of his
sons is the choir manager now,” says Modawu. 



“The first Grammy just came out of nowhere. It started with
someone contacting us and asking what we think of this idea, we carried the
idea and, sadly, in 2009, he (Mulovhedzi) passed.”



&nbsp;And now 17 years
later, they are the most successful choir in the world.



“I have watched my children grow up for 17 years, from the
start, especially those coming from disadvantaged communities, very few had
ever been on a plane. 



“We had tried getting people who had never sung professionally before and we never thought they would be on stage with Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder or John Legend and through the years, artists wanted to collaborate with the choir. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="698" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg" alt="" data-id="40968" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40968" class="wp-image-40968" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-600x409.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-768x523.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir win their first Grammy. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="620" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png" alt="" data-id="40974" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40974" class="wp-image-40974" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-768x513.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Celine Dion and Beverly Bryer from the Soweto Gospel Choir. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“So, for them, it would be coming from Soweto and now on the
stage in New York City with Aretha Franklin or recording with Peter Gabriel or
doing shows with Johnny Clegg. To this day, it is an unreality for all of us.”



Bryers still remembers Mulovhedzi as the most important man
she had ever met in her dealings. 



“He was absolutely super-special,” she says, and that he was
the kindest gentleman with an absolute love for music and a great knowledge of
gospel. 



He helped her with the knowledge of gospel and working with
him was the most enriching experience, she adds. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg" alt="" data-id="40969" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40969" class="wp-image-40969" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg 960w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-300x188.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-600x375.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-768x480.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir win a third Grammy, the album called Freedom. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“Regarding our latest Grammy, the album called Freedom was recorded in 2018. One group toured Europe and the other one did America. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. So, it was concentrating on freedom songs, and songs that come from the struggle, with a little bit of gospel in between… 



“It was special because it’s an album that included their
(choir members’) history; it was an extra special feel for them.”&nbsp; 



Bryer recalls previous accolades with fondness.&nbsp; 



“The first Grammy had more attention because it came out of
nowhere. I remember in 2007 looking at my email that we were nominated for a
Grammy. It was special and we were there with David [Mulovhedzi]. 



“The second one was like, ‘been there, done that’.&nbsp; The third one is as important as the first
because of the history, it’s more personal and dedicated to Madiba, and it also
shows that even after 17 years, the Soweto Gospel Choir is on top of the music
game.”



At the beginning of their journey in 2002, the choir started
with 24 members, but because of&nbsp;
international travel, they had to form a second choir about 18 months
later to stay and perform locally.



Last year, the choir formed a third group because both groups were traveling; now the choir has grown to 50 members.&nbsp; 



Alto singer Cecelia Manyama from Diepkloof, Soweto, joined
the group in 2016. She was spotted by Bryer at a charity event playing the
violin for a classical group. She is one of the newer members.



“I met Beverly in the line to the loo. She had just heard me singing on stage and she called me aside and introduced herself and invited me for auditions that took place two weeks later. I was excited and couldn’t sleep, the two weeks felt like two years,” Manyama remembers.



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A week after the auditions, she received a message with
details of where the next rehearsals would be. She was in disbelief and told
everyone.



This was a choir that she admired and a choir she used to
watch on television. 



“I was told to lead a song I did at the charity event; I was
terrified. I remember the late Portia Skosana when I froze, and she came next
to me and sung the lead and let me continue. 



“When I started singing, I immediately felt the connection
and we were in sync and it didn’t feel new. With just that rehearsal, I was
blown away,” she recalls. 



Three months later, it was her first concert and performance
in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, for the Clap N Tap concert with the
choir.&nbsp; 



“I will never forget that experience, I led with Avulekile
Amasango (The Gates Have Opened). That was the first song I was given. I then
felt there is no stranger there in the choir,” she says, taking a deep breath. 



“Being with a Grammy award-winning choir and performing with
them for the first time, you have fear and excitement at the same time. We are
in sync and I realized I was not alone. 



“The backing behind me was speaking in volumes, it drove me,
it pushed me and from that day onwards, I never looked back and wanted to learn
more. It was an amazing experience.” 



&nbsp;For each new member
who joins the group, the awards reawaken something within. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="40973" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40973" class="wp-image-40973" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png" alt="" data-id="40975" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40975" class="wp-image-40975" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“I remember with my first Grammy with the group, we went to
the airport to get it. I had never held a Grammy in my hand, but with Soweto
Gospel Choir, I held it,” laughs Manyama. 



“It was amazing. At first, I didn’t understand the kind of
impact it has on the nation but now I realize this is huge; being called
everywhere to perform, and being in the same room with the president holding
the Grammy. That Grammy is heavy and after taking a picture with it, you just
want to pass it on or put it down.” 



Although many have come and gone over the years, the choir
have prioritized succession, as they make it a point to gradually hand over
management to the younger generation, who no doubt have big shoes to fill – and
the legacy of three very heavy gramophone trophies to uphold.&nbsp;

SGCT

Soweto Gospel Choir: Three Heavy Grammys And A World Singing Their Praise

From being in the presence of two South African presidents
to high-fiving the third, South Africa’s national women’s football team coach
Desiree Ellis is determined to grab headlines at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in
France.&nbsp; 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



As the country celebrates 25 years of democracy since the
fall of apartheid, South Africa’s women’s football team Banyana Banyana will
make a landmark appearance at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be held
between June 7 and July 7 in France.



&nbsp;The years of toil,
tears and sweaty perseverance beyond the pitch are indescribable for the team’s
coach Desiree Ellis months after qualifying for the acclaimed international
football championship.



When we meet her, she vividly recalls the qualifying match,
one of the most defining moments of her career. 



With 10 minutes left to the final whistle, as tension
mounted on the field, Ellis ascended a ladder for a closer look as history
unfolded, that day in 2018 in Ghana. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="410" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41373" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer3.png 410w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer3-300x451.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer3-199x300.png 199w" sizes="(max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px" /><figcaption>Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></div>



“I knew we were 10 minutes away but in football, anything
can happen,” she says. 



Ellis recalls a previous World Cup qualifier when things
went completely wrong. 



In 2014, Banyana lost to Nigeria during a semi-final
qualifying game. After the match, the mood was somber as the team drove home,
she recounts. It’s moments like those that make this 2019 qualification that
much more precious for Ellis. 



As they faced Mali’s national team, The Eagles, in the 2018
Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) tournament hosted in Ghana, a tired and
overworked Banyana team played to their fullest leaving Ellis with no choice
but to scream in celebration of their ultimate victory.



 “I tried to stay calm so that the players could be calm. They kept shouting ‘manage the game’ and we kept control of the game fantastically. We were leading two-nil and when they said two minutes I could’ve screamed.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“When the final whistle went, the scenes were amazing. Oh goodness, you just didn’t know where to run, who to hug or what to do,” Ellis exults. </blockquote>



A solid defence strategy mixed with a patriotic passion for
both the game and teamwork ensured an eventual win.&nbsp; 



“Many of them were there in 2014 when we didn’t qualify and
for a lot of them, it might have been the last opportunity to go to a world
cup. That really drove them. We needed to take it seriously and make sure we
don’t go to the third and fourth place.”



Armed with renewed confidence and a French translation book
to speak and understand basic French, Ellis is equipped to lead the women’s
team to possible glory at the international championship this month.



&nbsp;She owes her passion
for the sport to her community where she started playing at the tender age of
six. Back then, little did she know how far soccer would take her – or how far
she would take soccer.&nbsp; 



If that six-year-old girl from Salt River, a Cape Town suburb, had looked into a crystal ball at the time, she would have seen herself lead the team she once played for, and also rub shoulders with three South African presidents.



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&nbsp;“When you talk about
significant moments, it most probably is your first game, your first cap or
being made captain but I think those are small milestones. I have had the
privilege of having lunch with the late President Nelson Mandela, with a lot of
other athletes in Cape Town, at his residence,” she tells FORBES AFRICA. 



Ellis has also received a presidential silver medal from
president Thabo Mbeki and interacted with former president Jacob Zuma when she
was an ambassador for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.&nbsp; 



“We played a game in Cape Town during the World Cup. The
game was 10 minutes before the Argentina game, and I came off the field as
president Zuma came on and we high-fived each other.



“It comes with the work you put in. I don’t think many
people can be fortunate to say that they have interacted with all three
presidents.”



Ellis regards the role leaders play as an important one in
relation to sport, particularly when it comes to creating opportunities for the
marginalized.



“When president Nelson Mandela was released, I got the
opportunity to play national football. Prior to that I never played. I was 30
years old,” she says. 



Her unwavering focus on the game, she adds, and the many
sacrifices she has had to make along the way changed her story from just
playing soccer with boys on the streets of Salt River to achieving national
glory. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41375" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer2.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer2-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer2-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer2-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption>Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis holds a portrait of the team in 1993. Picture: Gypseenia Lion</figcaption></figure>



Her career goals even left her financially vulnerable, at
times. At the peak of her football career, a young Ellis, who worked at a local
butchery, had left for a football weekend and could not make it back to her workplace
in time to mix spices. That lapse resulted in her losing her job.



&nbsp; “Knowing your worth
can open doors,” she advises as she speaks to us at the state-of-the-art
headquarters of the South African Football Association (SAFA) in Johannesburg.



“Our federation is excited that they took the opportunity to
appoint female coaches for female teams. Most importantly, it is not just
making those decisions in appointing us, but also supporting us.”



Support does not only come from management but also fans who
play a role in encouraging the women to reach their potential – both on and off
the field. 



“We played in Cameroon in 2016 and the stadiums were packed, we played in Ghana and there were full stadiums. We came to Port Elizabeth and they [fans] were the 12th and 13th players for Banyana. The best fans we had [were] in Durban. It was absolutely amazing, and it [support] hasn’t only grown on the stands but on the field as well. The Under-17 team qualified for the World Cup, so it shows how the game has grown,” says Ellis. 



Although local leagues for women have increased on home
soil, there needs to be more opportunities that give African players a chance
to break into the sport and develop their global competitive edge. 



It starts with prioritizing junior levels. 



“Players are getting opportunities to study. I remember back
when we were playing, you were either unemployed or you had a job and 80 to 90
percent of the players were unemployed back then. If you look at the national
team now, 80 to 90 percent of the players have a degree or are currently still
studying. Players are getting opportunities to study or play abroad. We have a
lot of players playing abroad but I think more can be done.”



As a national asset, Ellis argues that focusing on the game
is far more important than worrying about issues that are beyond control. 



Once focus is lost, it manifests in all areas.&nbsp; 



“When people ask me about the money, I tell them I am a
technical person. You tend to concentrate more on your job as a coach and leave
the rest, because you can get side-tracked by all the other things. We don’t
worry about those things,” she says.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="945" height="611" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer4-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41377" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer4-1.png 945w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer4-1-300x194.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer4-1-600x388.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Soccer4-1-768x497.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px" /><figcaption>Desiree Ellis and Portia Modise&#8217;s portraits at the SAFA headquarters. Picture: Gypsenia Lion</figcaption></figure>



“As a technical person, your job is to prepare the team, [use] the training sessions to improve the individual and the team. That is why we have a manager, but when it influences team performance, I come in.” 



As the national team jets off to face world soccer, Ellis is
working round the clock to ensure that the team will make the nation proud. 



“Coaching is not just blowing the whistle, there are other
things in between. You need a schedule; people want to know what you are doing.
You have to do reports as well, so it is not about blowing the whistle at the
end of the game.” 



It’s also about analyzing the opponents with the technical
team and coming up with strategies and a definitive plan of action. 



“Playing against top countries is difficult as they play
regularly against other top countries. That is where you want to measure
yourself and that is where you really want to go out and bloom. People call it
the group of death, but it is what it is. We will just take it one game at a
time.



“If we do more, football in Africa can only grow and grow.”



It seems more work happens off the field than on the field,
and Ellis, who prides herself on her technical prowess, hopes Banyana will pull
up its socks and bring home a glistening&nbsp;
cup.

Desiree

How Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis Has Become A Game Changer

Nelson Mandela’s centenary brought together headline-grabbing A-listers and pledges of over $7 billion towards pressing global issues. Though for some, it didn’t end well.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



It was exactly 10 years ago when Australian humanitarian
Hugh Evans, along with his friend Simon Moss, launched the Global Poverty
Project, committing to end extreme poverty by 2030.



That dream launched Global Citizen, and with that, an
eponymous festival in 2012.



“Over 5.65 million actions led to 58 commitments and
announcements worth $7,096,996,725, set to affect the lives of 137,368,628
people,” summed up the Global Citizen Festival, held in December 2018 for the
first time in South Africa, hosted at the FNB Stadium, in the historic township
of Soweto, in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s centenary.



On a hot Sunday afternoon that also saw looming rain clouds,
thousands wearing straw hats and shades, trooped into the stadium, some
arriving as early as 5AM for what was billed a mega concert. 



Presidents, delegates, CEOs, activists, musicians and more
gathered for the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100.



Among them, a galaxy of international and local celebrities
such as Beyoncé, Trevor Noah, Oprah Winfrey, Naomi Campbell, Usher, Danai
Gurira, Bonang Matheba, Nomzamo Mbatha, Tyler Perry, Pharrell Williams, Bob
Geldof, Ed Sheeran, and dignitaries such as South African President Cyril
Ramaphosa, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J. Mohammed,
Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana,
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, former South African First Lady Graca Machel
and many more were all gathered for the one-day spectacle. 



The Daily Show anchor and host of the event, Noah said:
“This is 2010 all over again,” referring to the euphoria in South Africa when
the country hosted the FIFA World Cup that year.



“Everybody is here in Mzansi to celebrate the work of Nelson
Mandela,” he added.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="407" height="544" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global6.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39091" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global6.png 407w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global6-300x401.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global6-224x300.png 224w" sizes="(max-width: 407px) 100vw, 407px" /><figcaption>Trevor Noah at the Neslon Mandela Global Citizen Festival. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></div>



More than 75,000 people were in attendance at the stadium.



On stage, dignitaries committed actions taken to end extreme
poverty, achieve gender equality, and ensure food security, education and
global health.



“Everyone is a global citizen and how you want to take
action in helping others using your voice, reaching out to a representative and
holding rallies, coming together, uniting to make a change is wonderful.
Everybody has a voice now today,” model and activist Campbell who was on stage
told FORBES AFRICA on the sidelines.



&nbsp;“To have a 20-year
with the great man, President Nelson Mandela, is something I will treasure for the rest of my life and it’s an honor to be here and see everyone come together, and to see the young generation understand what this man Mandela stood for, what he sacrificed and what he wanted to achieve. And we are still trying to achieve what he wanted to, which is to eradicate poverty by 2030,” added Campbell. 



Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, son of the legendary Fela Kuti,
who performed and got the crowds dancing, told FORBES AFRICA some of the issues
he holds close to his heart are equality, poverty and the importance of
accountability by all leaders worldwide. 



“Every citizen must take responsibility for tackling these
problems,” he said. 



“My father is a really good example of this, Bob Marley is a
good example of this. If musicians did not talk about such issues, we would
probably be naïve.”



One of Nigeria’s best-selling musicians, D’banj, agreed.



He performed his hit song, Oliver Twist, wearing his
hallmark dark shades, a pair of metallic gold pants and jacket.



“Before I went on stage, I was so glad that this is Africa,
I have performed everywhere in the world but this is my home, and my people are
here,” he told FORBES AFRICA.



&nbsp;“Getting out here and
seeing my generation, the next generation, the millennials, and everyone coming
out, I am just so humbled. I can just say that, from here, the future is going
to be bright because the message of us stars coming together will leave a
mark.” 



The Nigerian artiste is not new to the Global Citizen scene.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="923" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39092" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global2.png 923w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global2-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global2-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global2-768x510.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px" /><figcaption> Beyoncé performs at the Neslon Mandela Global Citizen Festival. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure>



In 2015, he performed alongside Usher, Mary J Blige and
Will.i.am at the Global Citizen Earth Day in Washington D.C in the United
States.



“Global Citizen coming to Africa meant a lot for me… Because
after we leave here, we are going to leave a mark that is going to awaken them
and everybody is going to want to challenge our leaders to give us the right
change,” he said. 



Back on stage, the host Noah addressed the crowds about why
Africa should indeed be celebrated.



“When it comes to resources, Africa is the richest place on
earth,” he said.



“We have more booty than any other continent on the planet.
Men and women&#8230; The point is, Africa has a lot of natural wealth. But what’s
crazy is that even with all this wealth, 40% of all children across the continent
are stunted due to lack of access to food. Tonight, we are calling on African
leaders to commit three percent of their countries’ budgets to nutrition by
2020.”



All through the concert, the United Nations’ Sustainable
Development Goals were unraveled. 



The now former president of the World Bank, Dr Jim Yong Kim,
said it was important to contribute to issues related to health because, “the
crisis is much bigger”. As a result, the World Bank Group invested an
additional $1 million to health and education. 



Other celebrities and global leaders not present made their
own pledges through pre-recorded videos screened at the event.



Businessman and philanthropist Richard Branson pledged a
$105 million joint commitment to end the world’s leading cause of preventable
blindness. Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, announced an investment of
$4 billion made at the G7 Summit towards education for vulnerable women and
girls globally.



Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela
Merkel, pledged €63 million ($72.2 million) to Global Citizen over the next
three years.



From a South African perspective, the Motsepe Foundation, a
hosting and presenting partner of Global Citizen, committed more than $104.4
million towards education, economic inclusion and equality of women and girls,
as well as the current debate on land reform in South Africa. Entrepreneurs
Patrice Motsepe and his wife Precious received a rapturous applause when they
appeared on stage. 



President Ramaphosa committed R2 billion ($144 million) for
youth in South Africa, and announced the government’s intention to spend R60
billion ($4.3 billion) to provide free access to schools for poor children in
South Africa.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="609" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39093" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global3.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global3-300x197.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global3-600x394.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global3-768x504.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Beyoncé and Jay-Z at the Neslon Mandela Global Citizen Festival. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure>



But with all the pledges announced, the biggest question
remained, what next? 



The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, who
was in attendance, weighed in on this.



“What I’d really like to see is we coming up with an
integrated action plan so that it is not just raising the money but we
absolutely identify how is this money going to be utilized and how we can work
together better to support one another and to make sure that it is more likely
that these issues will be delivered,” she told FORBES AFRICA.



“What I hope will come out of this is concrete action which
will make a difference to the lives of the people who are so desperately
thirsting for change.”



At the end of the day, what the 75,000-plus in the stadium
had really come for was the culminating act by Beyoncé, one of the world’s
highest-paid musicians listed on FORBES. 



In one of the outfits on stage, Beyoncé wore a sequined body
suit, thigh-high boots, and a dramatic cape that paid tribute to Africa’s 54
countries. It was designed by Mary Katrantzou, who said in an Instagram post:
“Her coat has the 54 countries of Africa mapped out and on each country there
is a different embroidery representing its diversity.” Beyoncé also wore a
colorful beaded mini-dress with an elaborate back-piece, which according to her
mother Tina Lawson, featured “one hundred thousand African beads”.



Some of the other designers the artiste wore during the
visit included South African designers Enhle Mbali Maphumulo of Manual Rossa
Apparel, Rich Mnisi, MmusoMaxwell, Senegalese designer Adama Ndiaye’s label
Adama Paris, Sarah Diouf’s line Tongoro Studio and Ivorian label Yhebe Design.



Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z brought Africa to its feet to
their tunes for the first time. It was a breath-taking, epic production which
saw them perform hit songs like Halo, Perfect, Bonnie &amp; Clyde, Formation
and Forever Young.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="853" height="596" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global5.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39094" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global5.png 853w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global5-300x210.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global5-600x419.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Global5-768x537.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 853px) 100vw, 853px" /><figcaption> Naomi Campbell at the Neslon Mandela Global Citizen Festival. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure>



But despite the success of the Global Citizen Festival, it
was a chaotic end to a beautiful night for some.



While heads of state and celebrities were escorted back from
the concert venue, some festival-goers were left stranded in gridlocked traffic
at midnight to face attacks by criminals.



Many took to social media to explain how they were mugged at
gunpoint and were victims to violence. 



One of the attendees, 23-year-old Kayleen Morgan, who
witnessed the attacks, told us: “What was upsetting was for something like this
to happen at an event organized on such a huge scale. People’s experiences were
not taken seriously&#8230;” 



A month after these unfortunate incidents, some suspects
have been arrested and investigations continue. 



It was a night Beyoncé stole, and a night some
audience-goers will never forget, for being stolen from.

Global4

2010 all over again: a musical extravaganza to honor Nelson Mandela

One of the biggest names in television came to South Africa for what she believes are the greatest challenges affecting girls and women.



Oprah Winfrey was the keynote speaker at Isithunzi Sabafazi which means the &#8216;Dignity of women&#8217;, in tribute of Nelson Mandela. He would have turned 100 years in 2018. 



<ul><li>Produced and edited by Forbes Woman Africa Journalist, Karen Mwendera. Shot by Jolly Ndlovu.</li></ul>

oprah

WATCH | Oprah Winfrey Advocates for Women and Celebrates Nelson Mandela

Review: Mandela My Life, Melbourne Museum.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



What is the role of commemorative exhibitions that focus on the life of a single change agent I asked myself, as I viewed Melbourne Museum’s latest blockbuster, Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition.



The result of an international collaboration between Museums Victoria, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and IEG exhibitions, the exhibition is billed as a major international event that “will commemorate, illuminate and most importantly share Nelson Mandela’s living legacy with the world” on the centenary of his birth.



At first glance I doubted that these aims could be achieved. The tone of the exhibition could be accused of being hagiographic, given the ostensible reason for the exhibition – to celebrate the centenary of Mandela’s birth – as well as its narrative structures, which blended Mandela’s own words with the editorializing of the Mandela Foundation. This lent support to the claim that this exhibition was the “official” version of how to interpret the meaning of Mandela’s life.



Organised chronologically, the exhibition follows Mandela’s life. It begins with his birth in the Transkei region of South Africa, where he was initiated into his tribe’s traditional cultural practices and knowledge systems and attended a mission school.



The exhibition then follows him as he decides to leave his homeland for Johannesburg, where his experiences under apartheid radicalized him, leading on towards his role as a leader in the African National Congress, and his eventual imprisonment. His resilience while in prison and his leadership of the new post-apartheid South Africa led him to become the revered figure he is today.



This simple chronological narrative is given emotive force by three elements that come into play.



The first of these is the sound of Mandela’s voice at key moments. These include his famous&nbsp;Rivonia Trial&nbsp;speech in which he stated that he was prepared to die for the anti-apartheid movement.



Others are his memories of his childhood in the Transkei, his reflections on his time in prison, and his speech when he was freed, where his conciliatory approach to ending apartheid set the tone for what was to follow. Mandela’s voice guides us through the exhibition, supported by a rich display of personal photographs, letters and personal objects carefully preserved by the Mandela Foundation.



These are then contrasted with the evidence of apartheid from material borrowed or reproduced from other collections and media organisations, which provides the second element. The role of these sources is to lend authority to the human rights claim that apartheid was an unjust system – they are the evidence of what goes wrong when equality between humans is not respected.



The third element is the visitor – a visitor who already knows the end of the story and believes in its righteousness. Mandela was on the right side of history.



None of this is wrong of course. But the desire to eulogize, as often appears to be the case in this exhibition, does not allow space for questions that might allow for a fuller explication of the nature of Mandela’s legacy and its relevance beyond South Africa.



For instance, the final gallery shows a series of 16 paintings by John Myer, retelling Mandela’s life story and giving body to South African’s pride in the achievements of this extraordinary man. This could have been the moment, however, when his legacy could have been broadened out and key themes explored and thus gone beyond the outpouring of grief on his death, captured by the 95 messages of condolence, one for each year of his life – available in the penultimate gallery via a table full of telephone handsets.



Beyond the obvious answer – he was a hero who fought apartheid and won – what is it that those fighting for human rights can learn? What are the difficult questions his activism raises for those fighting on behalf of the oppressed? And, finally, are there other contexts in which his life might have meaning?



In an Australian context, some of the answers were alluded to in the speeches on opening night, which pointed to the relevance of Mandela’s activism for Australians fighting for Indigenous rights. Such speeches go some way towards explaining why the Melbourne Museum, which is aligned with human rights museums and whose First Peoples Gallery is an eloquent articulation of the need for treaty, is host to this exhibition.



But I would also argue that Mandela’s life is relevant to all of us at this particular juncture in time – a time when we need to hang on to the hope that change is both necessary and possible and that the actions of ordinary, everyday people can bring it about. This is as true for situations of unequal power relations as for other complex problems, such as what to do about climate change.



Mandela was an extraordinary man – but he was also supported by many others, both within and outside South Africa, all of whom believed in the necessity of change. Mandela is important because we need to have figures who show us that hope, resilience and leadership is still possible when those values are valued by all of us.



The exhibition does not make these points itself – but perhaps it is enough that such points can be made by those who visit it and reflect upon it. Even so, I wish there was less emphasis on the authorized, official nature of the exhibition, which, for me, closed down the potential for some really interesting discussions on the nature of change and how to achieve it.



<ul><li><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-witcomb-292784">Andrea Witcomb:</a>&nbsp;Professor, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University</li></ul>



<ul><li><a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whats-on/mandela-my-life-the-exhibition/">Mandela My Life</a>&nbsp;is being exhibited at the Melbourne Museum until March 3 2019.</li></ul>

Tag: Nelson Mandela

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