The late poet, academic and Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza to be honoured by Rhodes University.
The university in Makhanda will confer a degree of Doctor of Literature (honoris causa) on the late cultural activist Ambassador Mabuza at its graduation ceremony on Friday.
Mabuza was a South African politician, diplomat, poet, academic, journalist and cultural activist. She passed away on December 6, 2021, at the age of 83 from cancer, after having accepted her honour from the university.
Rhodes University said she was an anti-apartheid activist who served South Africa as a member of the first democratically elected Parliament of South Africa. She then proceeded to a career as a distinguished diplomat. Mabuza served as South African Ambassador to Germany, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
She received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Durban-Westville in 1993, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 2003 and the Yari Yari Award for contributions to Human Rights and Literature from the New York University in 1997. In 2003, while serving as South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, she was named by Diplomat Magazine as Diplomat of the Year.
Mabuza’s daughter and chief executive of Advertising Standards Authority, Thembi Msibi, will receive the honour on her behalf at the April graduation ceremonies.
“On behalf of my mother, Lindiwe Mabuza, we thank Rhodes University for this prestigious award. As a family, we are both humbled and honoured at the recognition of her contribution and commitment to the struggle and her beloved country, South Africa,” Msibi said.
She added that it was heartening that her mother was aware of this accolade as she received the letter from the university shortly before her death.
“Indeed, I am convinced she is smiling down from the heavens,” Msibi said.
Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, said the South African nation owed her an enormous debt of gratitude and appreciation for all the sacrifices she has made throughout her life as a committed freedom fighter, a determined cultural and literary activist and a champion for women’s emancipation.
“She was a phenomenal woman; a woman of grace; a woman of elegance; an embodiment of humility; and courage and dedication personified. Her use of poetry and other writings as a weapon against the brutal and iniquitous system of apartheid created hope for many who could not return to the place of their birth,” Mabizela said.
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