News & Media

Miriam Makeba, a shining example of women's unlimited potential to excel – Minister Dlamini-Zuma

Share

On 23 April 2023, the Miriam Makeba Foundation partnered with the Thabo Mbeki School to host the inaugural Dr Miriam Makeba Memorial Lecture in the Senate Hall.

Hundreds of people from all walks of life descended on Unisa's Muckleneuk Campus to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr Makeba. Among them were Mama Abigail Kubeka, Ntate Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, Dr Sello Galane and Chief Executive Officer of the South African Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA), Pfanani Lishivha.

Soweto Gospel Choir delivering a musical tribute

The Soweto Gospel Choir, Positive Vibrations Foundation of Hope for Girls, Amazwi Kantu and Mama Abigail Kubeka delivered moving musical tributes.

The Dean of the College of Human Sciences, Prof Zethu Nkosi, welcomed everyone on behalf of Unisa's Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Puleng LenkaBula.

Prof Zethu Nkosi

Nkosi remarked that the Miriam Makeba Memorial Lecture was long overdue. She described Makeba as a woman of great substance, a freedom fighter, professional entertainer and musician unparalleled in many respects.

Nkosi also reminded the audience that the Makeba Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in the year Unisa celebrates 150 years of existence (1873-2023), which also marks the 60th anniversary of Makeba's powerful speech she delivered at the 18th Meeting of the Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on Apartheid Policies, on 16 July 1963.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

The lecture was delivered by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.

Dlamini-Zuma intimated that even if given the whole day, she would still find it impossible to render a complete account of the life and times of the global icon that Miriam Makeba rose to become.

The Minister reflected on Makeba's life milestones using the following thematic areas to illuminate who she was, what she stood for and what her voice teaches us today:

  1. Miriam Makeba's formative years as a daughter of a mineworker and a traditional healer.
  2. Miriam Makeba as a logical continuation from the lineage of Africa's revolutionary women and a shining example of women's unlimited potential to excel in all areas of human endeavour.
  3. Miriam Makeba as a pioneering and illustrative case of the unlimited potential of the creative industry in the struggle for liberation.
  4. Miriam Makeba as an exiled activist artist and the messages she carried across the seas.
  5. Miriam Makeba, the pan-African internationalist and diplomat.

Dlamni-Zuma concluded her lecture by emphasising the Miriam Makeba Lecture series as an intellectual exercise to preserve our liberation heritage and decolonise knowledge production.

Click here to watch the inaugural Dr Miriam Makeba Memorial Lecture. 

* By Tshepo Neito, Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute

Share

Publish date: 2023-04-25 00:00:00.0

Unisa Shop