Helen Suzman, South African Anti-Apartheid Activist, Dies on New Year’s Day

South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who won international acclaim as one of the few white lawmakers to fight against the injustices of racist rule, has died on New Year’s. She was 91. Suzman was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and fought a long and lonely battle in the South African parliament against government repression of the country’s black majority and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Achmat Dangor said Suzman was a “great patriot and a fearless fighter against apartheid.” For 13 years, Suzman was the sole opposition lawmaker in South Africa’s parliament, raising her voice time after time against the introduction of racist legislation by the National Party government.

After her retirement from parliament in 1989, she served on a variety of top public institutions, including the Independent Electoral Commission that oversaw the country’s first multiracial elections in 1994. She was at Mandela’s side when he signed the new constitution in 1996 as South Africa’s first black president. A year later, Mandela awarded her a special gold medal in honor of her contributions.

“It is a courage born of the yearning for freedom; of hatred of oppression, injustice and inequity whether the victim be oneself or another; a fortitude that draws its strength from the conviction that no person can be free while others are unfree,” Mandela said at the time. Source: Huffington Post

The world has lost another icon who worked tirelessly for equal rights for all. Rest in peace, Ms. Suzman, you have done well.

Filed under: Apartheid, Blacks, Helen Suzman, Nelson Mandela, Racism, South Africa

Miriam Makeba, South African Music Legend Who Sang About Apartheid, Dies at Age 76

As a child growing up in Jamaica, I remember hearing the sultry voice of South African legend Miriam Makeba as she sang about the scourge of Apartheid. I can hear Peter Tosh singing about “Mama Africa,” as Ms. Makeba was affectionately known. She was banned from her own country for more than 30 years because of the stance she took on the injustices. She died early this morning after collapsing on stage in Italy, a fitting place for her to spend her last moments. She was 76 years old.

In her dazzling career, Makeba performed with musical legends from around the world — jazz maestros Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon — and sang for world leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. “Her haunting melodies gave voice to the pain of exile and dislocation which she felt for 31 long years. At the same time, her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us,” Mandela said in a statement. He said it was “fitting” that her last moments were spent on stage. Source ABC News

The Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno, near the southern city of Naples, said Makeba died of a heart attack.

Makeba collapsed on stage Sunday night after singing one of her most famous hits “Pata Pata,” her family said in a statement. Her grandson, Nelson Lumumba Lee, was with her as well as her longtime friend, Italian promoter Roberto Meglioli. “Whilst this great lady was alive she would say: ‘I will sing until the last day of my life’,” the statement said.

Castel Volturno Mayor Francesco Nuzzo said Makeba sang at a concert in solidarity with six immigrants from Ghana who were shot to death in September in the town, an attack that investigators have blamed on organized crime. Yes, she took her last bow, fighting for a cause she believed in. Wow. That is profound on so many levels.

The death of “Mama Africa,” as she was known, plunged South Africa into shock and mourning. “One of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing,” Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement. “Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song.” Source: ABC News

The world has, indeed, lost a true champion. Someone who perserved in raising awareness of the plight of South African in her songs, despite the odds that were against her. She was the first African woman to win a Grammy award. Her rise to international prominence started when she starred in the anti-apartheid documentary “Come Back, Africa” in 1959. Ms. Makeba is survived by her grandchildren, Nelson Lumumba Lee and Zenzi Monique Lee, and her great-grandchildren Lindelani, Ayanda and Kwame.

To read more about Miriam Makeba, CLICK HERE…..

Filed under: Harry Belafonte, Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, Nelson Mandela, Paul Simon, South Africa

South African Reggae Artist Tiny Motho Siluma Gunned Down Outside Home in Johannesburg

Another South African reggae artist has been gunned down. Tiny Motho Siluma has been shot dead. His family said that he was gunned down outside his flat on Wanderers Street in Johannesburg last night. His brother, Richard Siluma, said he was shot three times and died on the spot. Silumo was best known as Tiny in advertisements of a popular chicken fast food outlet. According to media reports, Siluma started his music career in 1985. He’s known as the first person in South Africa to do the now popular rap music.

His two brothers, who arrived at the crime scene in Joubert Park last night, said the whole family was shocked by his death. In 1989, Siluma toured Japan with his brother Richard and the late reggae star, Lucky Dube, who was also gunned down in South Africa. His death came on the eve of the anti-crime Million Man March in Pretoria today. Police are still investigating the matter.

Lucky Dube was shot and killed last October in a suburb of Johannesburg. Police said Dube’s son and daughter were already out of the car as he dropped them off one evening, when three shots were fired through the car window killing their father in Rosettenville. Witnesses said that the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree. South Africa lost a great reggae singer then and has lost another national treasure with the murder of Tiny Siluma. The gun violence in South Africa has been escalating in recent years and the country has one of the highest crime rates in the world. It seems though apartheid in its true sense has been eradicated, the people, particularly the poor, are still living through an economic apartheid in every sense of the word. South Africa has a lot of resources that could benefit the poor and working class better, but it is concentrated in the hands of a few, which is unfortunate. For a country that grappled and lived through the nightmare of racial unrest, it is, indeed, a real travesty that the hardship continues for so many. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..

Filed under: Crime rates, Johannesburg, Lucky Dube, Murder, South Africa, Tiny Motho Siluma