/ 16 February 2001

MAKEBA BECOMES GOODWILL AMBASSADOR

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has appointed singer Miriam Makeba, 58, who shot to worldwide fame in 1965 with “The Click Song”, as goodwill ambassador to Africa. Makeba spent 31 years in exile for her opposition to the apartheid regime but brought African music to the world. She started out singing “seditious” songs in Xhosa, Sotho and Zulu, saying once: “I sang in English before I could speak it”. Makeba, who still sings, returned to live in South Africa in 1991. – AFP