Lindiwe Mabuza was a South African politician, diplomat, poet, academic, journalist, and cultural activist.
27 Facts About Lindiwe Mabuza
1.
2.
Lindiwe Mabuza was an anti-apartheid activist who went on to serve her country as a member of the first democratically elected parliament of South Africa.
3.
Lindiwe Mabuza then proceeded to a career as a distinguished diplomat.
4.
Lindiwe Mabuza served on the Advisory Board of Elders of the Ifa Lethu Foundation, which repatriates South African artworks.
5.
Lindiwe Mabuza completed her high school at St Louis Betrand High School in Newcastle.
6.
Lindiwe Mabuza then went on to attend Roma College in Lesotho and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.
7.
Lindiwe Mabuza went further to obtain her second master's degree in history, majoring in American Studies, from the University of Minnesota.
8.
Lindiwe Mabuza was a radio journalist and broadcaster in Radio Freedom, which was the ANC's radio station, broadcasting from Zambia to multiple African countries.
9.
Lindiwe Mabuza was the Chairperson of the ANC's Cultural Committee.
10.
Lindiwe Mabuza led campaigns and lobbied towards the isolation of South Africa through trade bans and boycotts.
11.
Lindiwe Mabuza 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.
12.
Lindiwe Mabuza 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.
13.
In 1986, Lindiwe Mabuza was transferred from Sweden to the United States to serve as the ANC's Chief Representative there.
14.
Lindiwe Mabuza arrived in America shortly after the American government had imposed sanctions on apartheid South Africa.
15.
Lindiwe Mabuza continued to lobby congress and to work with many American activists, such as Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Jane Fonda and many others.
16.
Lindiwe Mabuza was instrumental in the many boycotts, rallies and other efforts to frustrate the apartheid government.
17.
Later, after the political prisoners from Robben Island were released, including Nelson Mandela, Lindiwe Mabuza was key in organising Mandela's first visit to America after his release.
18.
Lindiwe Mabuza's passion was still diplomacy and her party, now the new ANC government, knew this.
19.
Lindiwe Mabuza was then appointed South African Ambassador to Germany in 1995.
20.
Lindiwe Mabuza was a celebrated diplomat in Germany because of her own efforts in human rights.
21.
Lindiwe Mabuza accompanied the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on a major trade visit to South Africa.
22.
In 2001, Lindiwe Mabuza took over from Cheryl Carolus as South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a post she held till 2009.
23.
Lindiwe Mabuza died on 6 December 2021, at the age of 83, having been suffering from cancer.
24.
Lindiwe 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.
25.
Lindiwe Mabuza's poems appear in Anta Sudan Katara Mberi and Cosmo Pieterse's anthology Speak Easy, Speak Free and her poetry is included in Barry Feinberg's anthology Poets to the People: South African Freedom Poem and in The Heinemann Book of African Women's Poetry.
26.
Lindiwe Mabuza co-edited the book Oliver Tambo Remembered, in honour of her mentor and friend Oliver Tambo.
27.
Lindiwe Mabuza 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.