President Thabo Mbeki will on Thursday pin one of South Africa’s highest honours on his mother Epainette as she and 26 other heroes are recognised for their services to the nation.
Among those to be honoured, some posthumously, are activists who died during the struggle against apartheid, two kings and a former head of state as well as former president Nelson Mandela’s biographer.
Epainette, turning 90 this year, will be receiving the Order of the Baobab ”for her exceptional contribution to economic upliftment of underprivileged communities and her commitment to the fight against apartheid,” a government statement said.
Epainette Mbeki, or ”Ma Mofokeng” as she as known by her clan name, still runs a community store in the Eastern Cape, as she did when her husband Govan was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island and her son was in exile from the apartheid state.
Since democratic elections in 1994, she has been vocal about bringing services to the rural Eastern Cape’s Transkei region and in particular to Mbeki’s home village near the town of Idutywa, where he was born in 1942.
”A woman who has avoided the limelight, she rose to prominence in 2000, a year after her son became president, when she gave a frank radio interview,” Johannesburg-based The Star said.
”The switchboard was reportedly jammed after the former teacher and South African Communist Party member had her say, including that she had advised her son when he became [president] to forget about his ego and listen to others, even if their views differed from his,” the paper said.
Named after one of southern Africa’s landmark trees, the Order of the Baobab is awarded to South African citizens for distinguished service within business and the economy, science, medicine and technology and community service.
Also among those to be honoured are Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkhonto who were part of the so-called ”Cradock Four” of activists who were abducted and killed by apartheid security forces in 1985.
The men are to receive the Order of Luthuli, named after the late struggle hero Albert Luthuli, which recognises contributions to the fight against apartheid.
Two kings, the late Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho and Sobhuza II of Swaziland are also to be honoured, together with Botswana’s first president, Seretse Khama.
British journalist, biographer and close friend of Nelson Mandela, Anthony Sampson, is also to be receive an order. Sampson died in December 2004 in Britain at the age of 78. — AFP
