Program Director,
Ambassador of Sweden in absentia
Deputy Head of Mission Christian Fögelstrom
Writers, academics, literary institutions, politicians
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to extend my sincere greetings to you all at this significant gathering, as we celebrate literary work produced by notable writers of our time. This celebration happens at the time when the country celebrates Freedom Month. What an appropriate choice of time to celebrate these works of art. We all know that the freedom we are enjoying was attained through the help from other countries such as Sweden, hence the partnership in celebrating the book launches.
This event celebrates three books written by prominent icons who have been activists and leaders in the South African liberation struggle and we are humbled by that. The books are: So far so Close by Lindiwe Mabuza, The Hungry Red Lion by Peder Gowenius and Oasis MOTSWEDI UMTHOMBO WASEHLANE a Collaborative Expression.
The Hungry Red Lion tells the story about the work in The Rorke´s Drift cultural movement during apartheid, where they started a center to train women in rural areas to create arts and crafts to make a sustainable living.
The Oasis MOTSWEDI UMTHOMBO WASEHLANE brings into sharp relief the powerful art of Lefifi Tladi and the compelling poetry of his longtime collaborator Eugene Skeef and layers them in a symbiotic relationship of flow and form, word and rhythm. I can’t wait to get a copy of each of these books so that I can also be served with the artistic illustrations by these renowned authors known by all of us.
Looking at these authors, one realizes that in one or more ways they are connected to the international community. This confirms the support South Africa received from outside the borders of the country and the central role that Sweden played in the liberation struggle of our country, South Africa.
We all know Lefifi Tladi, a South African painter, poet, sculptor and musician. He lived in exile, primarily in Stockholm, Sweden, until the abolition of apartheid, and returned to South Africa in 1997.
PEDER GOWENIUS [1936–] studied sculpture at Konstfack, Stockholm, Sweden’s largest university of art, craft and design. Peder was declared a Prohibited Immigrant by South Africa and arrested and deported back to Sweden in 1978 and the legendary Eugene Skeef, is a South African percussionist, composer, poet, educationalist and animator living in London since 1980.
We await to hear more about the two books The Hungry Red Lion and the Oasis MOTSWEDI UMTHOMBO WASEHLANE from the authors later as they launch them.
Allow me to zoom into the book So Far So Close, a compilation by the late Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza. The book embraces contributions from renowned icons in SA and from Sweden, some of whom are here with us today. Maybe I should also take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence of the Mabuza family, led by the daughter of the late Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza, Thembi Msibi. We send our heartfelt gratitude for having allowed their daughter to serve the people of South Africa under the leadership of the ANC.
The book So Far So Close was first launched in Sweden at the Gothenburg Book Fair, last year in October 2022. The launch happened when South Africa was participating at the Fair as the Guest of Honor, as part of the activities that strengthens the relationship that South Africa has with Sweden. This relationship dates back to the years of struggle for freedom in South Africa and it is based on mutually shared values of democracy, equality, and social justice, as well as mutually beneficial bilateral economic trade and cooperation.
We must also note that South Africa, through the department of Sport, Arts and Culture, signed an agreement with Sweden with the aim to see the two countries collaborate on a number of programmes, including nation building, social cohesion and promoting tolerance, to strengthen cultural relations between the two countries.
Today as part of solidifying the relations we have with Sweden, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has partnered with the Swedish Embassy to launch this Legacy Book “So far So close”, one of the three books that are launched here today. The book brings together the diverse South Africans and Swedes who, from their own experiences, describe the relationship which existed between the South African liberation movement and the people of Sweden. It indicates how most South Africans spent many years in Sweden and established ties with people from government and those who were involved with organisations supporting the liberation cause.
The books that are being launched here today are treasures that each one of us should have and pass from our generation to the next. Let us all buy a copy of each, as we strengthen our relationship and contributing towards an increased trade within the Book and Press sector.
We need this kind of collaborative work in the country, where government and private sector work together to deliver services to the nation and beyond. I am happy to see that we have our authors and those in academia participating in this event. Let us make sure that these books are translated into our other official languages. Same must be done in Swedish. To ensure that no one is left out and that access to the information shared through these books becomes a reality to all.
Who is Lindiwe Mabuza? As I conclude, allow me to share a bit about this selfless dedicated heroine:
The late Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza was a South African politician, diplomat, poet, academic, journalist, and cultural activist. She passed away on 06 December 2021 at the age of 83.
Early life and career
Mabuza was born in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa. She completed her high school at St Louis Betrand High School in Newcastle. She then went on to attend Roma College in Lesotho and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Owing to her struggle to find employment in apartheid South Africa, Mabuza moved to Swaziland and became a teacher of English and isiZulu.[2] In 1964 she moved to the United States and enrolled at Stanford University where she completed a master's degree in English. She went further to obtain her second master's degree in history majoring in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. In 1968 she became a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. In 1969 she joined Ohio University as Assistant Professor of Literature and History.[3] Later in 1993 she obtained a diploma in diplomacy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her personal experience of racial segregation in South Africa, which led her to leave South Africa, and her exposure to the plight of African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement prompted Mabuza to join the struggle for the emancipation of her people in South Africa and Africa as a whole. In 1975 she joined the African National Congress (ANC) and moved to Lusaka in Zambia. In 1977 she became Editor of Voice of Women, a feminist journal for women in the ANC. She was also a radio journalist and broadcaster in Radio Freedom, which was the ANC's radio station, broadcasting from Zambia to multiple African countries. She was also the Chairperson of the ANC's Cultural Committee.[4]
In 1979 the then ANC president Oliver Reginald Tambo assigned Mabuza to open ANC offices in Scandinavia and to become the ANC's Chief Representative to Scandinavian countries, residing in Stockholm, Sweden. Tambo reflected later in his speech to the ANC's women section in 1981 in Angola that "Comrade Lindiwe Mabuza cried and sobbed and ultimately collapsed on top of herself when she learnt she had been appointed ANC Chief Representative to the Scandinavian countries. But, looking at the record, could any man have done better?"[5] During her time in Sweden, she mobilised support for the ANC and raised funds for ANC work across the world, especially for exiled South Africans in Zambia. She also led campaigns and lobbied towards the isolation of South Africa through trade bans and boycotts.
She forged strong relationships with Scandinavians and was very close to the Prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, who was a major supporter of the ANC and resistance to the apartheid government.[6] She had become such a formidable force against the apartheid government that on Monday, 8 September 1986, the ANC office was bombed with the hope of killing her and sabotaging the work she was doing.[7] By the time Mabuza left Scandinavia, she had been so successful that the international offices of the ANC that she managed had grown to include Finland, Denmark, and Norway.[8]
In 1986, Mabuza was transferred from Sweden to the United States where she served as the ANC's Chief Representative.[8] With the aid of the Swedes, Mabuza managed to open and run an office based in Washington, DC. She arrived in America shortly after the American government had imposed sanctions on Apartheid South Africa.[9] She continued to lobby congress and to work with many American activists like Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Jane Fonda and many others.[10][11] She was instrumental in the many boycotts, rallies and other efforts to frustrate the apartheid government. Her efforts, with the help of other organizations and American colleges across America, led to Coca-Cola and many other such corporations withdrawing their investments from South Africa.[12] Later, after the political prisoners from Robben Island were released, including Nelson Mandela, Mabuza was key in organising Mandela's first visit to America after his release.[13]
In democratic South Africa
Although Lindiwe Mabuza had spent many years in political exile, she was nominated into the first democratic parliament of South Africa serving under president Mandela. Her passion was still diplomacy and her party, now the new ANC government, knew this. She was then appointed South African Ambassador to Germany in 1995.[8] She was a celebrated diplomat in Germany because of her own efforts in human rights. A reception was held in her honour to mark her signing of the Goldenes Buch [de] in Bremen City Hall,[14] an honour reserved only for heads of state. She also accompanied the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on a major trade visit to South Africa.[15] In 1999, she became South African High Commissioner to Malaysia and Brunei and the Philippines. In 2001, she took over from Cheryl Carolus as South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland,[16] a post she held till 2009.[17][18] In recognition of her commitment to strengthening ties between the UK and South Africa, she received the "Diplomat of the year from Africa award" from The Diplomat magazine in 2009.[19]
Mabuza died on 6 December 2021, at the age of 83,[1] having been suffering from cancer.[20]
Poetry and writings
Mabuza started writing poetry when she was involved in "The Way Project" in the United States that tried to create programmes through which children can be kept off the streets. When she arrived in Zambia, she soon discovered that ANC women did not have a voice so she coedited an anthology of poems by ANC women titled Malibongwe! ANC Women: Poetry Is Their Weapon in 1978. Selections of her poems also appear in Anta Sudan Katara Mberi and Cosmo Pieterse's anthology Speak Easy, Speak Free (1977) and her poetry is included in Barry Feinberg's anthology Poets to the People: South African Freedom Poem (1980) and in The Heinemann Book of African Women's Poetry (1995).[21]
Her own collections are Letter to Letta, 1991, which she titled after her dear friend the musician Letta Mbulu,[22] Voices that Lead: Poems 1976–1996,[23] Footprints and fingerprints, published in 2008,[24] and To Sweden from ANC, published in 1987.[25]
In 2007, she published a children's book titled South African Animals with illustrations by Alan Baker.[26]
Mabuza also coedited (with Pallo Jordan) the book Oliver Tambo Remembered, in honour of her mentor and friend Oliver Tambo.[27][28] The book is a collection of essays by Tambo's friends and comrades. She also conceived the idea to compile a collection of essays on former South African President Thabo Mbeki, an idea leading to the bestseller titled The Thabo Mbeki I Know.[20] Inspired by the 100th anniversary of Tambo's birth, she edited the volume Conversations with Uncle O. R. Tambo: Childhood Memories in Exile, a collection of letters by writers who were children at the time when Tambo was president of the ANC.[29]
