Speech by ambassador M.Maqetuka at the memorial tribute for the late Miriam Zenzile Makeba 21 December 2008

Programme Director
Director-General of the Algerian Radio, Mr. Tewfik KHELLADI
Our Guests of Honour, the Ambassador of the Republic of Guinea Conakry, HE Ambassador Ansoumane CAMARA
The Ambassador of the Republic of Italy, HE Ambassador Giampaolo CANTINI
Representatives of the Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me first on behalf of the Government and the people of South Africa express my gratitude to the Algeria National Radio for this most important initiative of hosting this event which will ensure that the memory and spirit of this great African patriot and citizen of the world continues to live within our minds for generations to come.

It is also proper that I acknowledge the presence of our guests of honour for this evening, namely HE the Ambassador of Guinea Conakry, HE Ambassador Ansoumane CAMARA, largely in recognition of the positive role played by the Government and the people of the Republic of Guinea Conakry in the life and career of the late Miriam Zenzile Makeba during one of her most challenging times in exile. It will be recalled that Mama Afrika as she was fondly known, spent a better 15 years of her life in Guinea Conakry under the warm reception of that great son of Africa, President Ahmed Sekou Toure, and that her only daughter, the late Zenzi Makeba’s final place of rest in 1985 also happens to be in Guinea Conakry.

Secondly, HE the Ambassador of Italy, HE Ambassador Giampaolo CANTINI, whose country had the honour of hosting Mama Afrika’s penultimate performance. Ever the internationalist like the great revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevara, Miriam Makeba passed away while lending her internationalist solidarity to a noble cause spurred on by her unwavering contempt against injustice.

Most importantly though Programme Director, I would like to take this important opportunity to also acknowledge the role played by the Government and people of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in lending support to Miriam Makeba in particular and liberation struggle and the people of South Africa in general during one of the darkest epochs in human civilisation as we know it, that is the period of apartheid and colonialism. It is a well known fact that Miriam Makeba like most South Africans who came to Algeria during those times, always considered Algeria to be her home.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it was indeed with great sadness that we learnt on 10 November 2008 that Miriam ‘Mama Afrika’ Makeba had ceased to sing. If death could be described as beautiful - our Miriam Makeba passed away in a manner that was beautiful, befitting the person that she was. How best could she then have decided to part from this world except after having performed on stage in Castel Volturno in Southern Italy at a ‘tender’ age of 76?

Since the beginning of her career at the age of 13, when as a young girl she entered a talent show at a missionary school and walked off with a first prize, to becoming the very first African woman to win a Grammy Award in 1966, Miriam Makeba never shied away from lending her public profile in the fight against injustice be it in her homeland of South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe or Angola as her inspirational song ‘Aluta Continua’ can attest. It will also be recalled that in 1963 she testified against the evils of apartheid at the United Nations General Assembly. In this context, the music of Miriam Makeba became a rallying point in the fight against apartheid inside and outside the borders of apartheid South Africa. As a student activist myself in the 1970s we were inspired by the strong political content of the message in her lyrics. She ever sang about the love for her country and her continent.

Indeed Ladies and Gentlemen, when Miriam Makeba returned to South Africa in 1990 after 31 years in exile, it was only proper that she commented, “I never understood why I could not come home”; “I never committed any crime”.

It was therefore not surprising that upon her return from exile that she lent her support to humanitarian just causes in solidarity with the ‘wretched of the earth’. It was in this context that she was in 2001 appointed South Africa’s Goodwill Ambassador until her untimely passing.

HE President Abdellaziz Bouteflika could not have been more correct when he said shortly after Miriam Makeba passed away, “As all the women and men who marked the history of our continent, she knows the pain of contempt, the sufferings of denial and the torments of exile. She never stayed off an inch or give up to discouragement, she kept straight on her position, carried herself proudly and her domination strong among the historical movement yielding irrevocably to the liberation of peoples. In the lap of Frantz Fanon, of Aime Cesaire and other lights who brightened up our fight, she achieved her part of work by offering a voice to Africa and warming the cold night we endure”.

Ladies and Gentlemen although one of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing, as Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs eloquently put it shortly after her passing, we will continue listening to her music; it shall be with us for eternity!

I thank you!