Durban -
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa is set to return from America with the remains of Durban anti-apartheid journalist Nat Nakasa next week.
The Supreme Court of New York has granted permission for the remains of the Chesterville-born writer to be returned home.
The minister, who is part of a delegation of eight, will arrive in New York on Wednesday where he will be met by the consul-general, George Monyemangene.
They will proceed straight to the Ferncliff cemetery where civil rights activist Malcolm X is buried a short distance away from Nakasa. The minister will be present when the grave is opened, with the exhumation starting two days later.
The opening of Nakasa’s grave will be followed on Saturday by a memorial service at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York.
The minister will return on Tuesday to King Shaka International Airport where he will give a press conference.
Nakasa’s remains will be kept at a mortuary before his reburial at Heroes’ Acre in Chesterville on September 12.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Arts and Culture, Sandile Memela, said: “The return of Nakasa’s remains is a significant achievement. His family could not afford and were not allowed to bring his remains back into the country. This will give them closure.”
Memela said Nakasa was able to articulate the vision and dream of a “just and equal society”.
He was part of the Drum magazine writers of the 1950s and ‘60s and was the first black writer at the Rand Daily Mail. He was awarded the Nieman fellowship at Harvard University.
His visa application was rejected and he left on an exit pass, meaning that he could not come back into the country. On July 14, 1965, it is said, he committed suicide by jumping out of a building.