Mthethwa to bring back Nakasa's remains

230713: Gladys Maphumulo will be relieved when her brother’s death with plans for his remains are eventually returned home from the US. Journalist Nat Nakasa, inset, died in exile 48 years ago and plans are now under way to repatriate his body.were set in motion by the provincial government. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad

230713: Gladys Maphumulo will be relieved when her brother’s death with plans for his remains are eventually returned home from the US. Journalist Nat Nakasa, inset, died in exile 48 years ago and plans are now under way to repatriate his body.were set in motion by the provincial government. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad

Published Aug 12, 2014

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Johannesburg - Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Tuesday led a delegation to the US to bring back the remains of renowned anti-apartheid journalist Nat Nakasa, the department said.

The Supreme Court of the State of New York had granted permission for Nakasa's remains to be returned to South Africa, said spokesman Sandile Memela.

“The South African government has been involved in the efforts to return Nakasa’s remains to home soil for the past two years.”

He said the department, in partnership with the SA National Editor's Forum and Drum Magazine would run the Nat Nakasa Essay Competition from August 15 to September 12.

The winners would be announced at his memorial service on September 12.

“The department is proud to play the leading part in the efforts to re-bury Nat Nakasa’s remains on home soil.”

Earlier reports had suggested that Nakasa would be buried at Heroes' Acre in Chesterville, KwaZulu-Natal.

Nakasa, a prolific young black voice who exposed the devastation of apartheid in his writings, was forced to leave South Africa on an exit visa when the apartheid government refused to grant him a passport after he was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University.

Nakasa died after falling from a building in New York in an apparent suicide in 1965. He was 28.

He was buried at the city's Ferncliff Cemetery.

Sapa

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