tribute - The African Mirror

Sep

20

2024

The Raindrops of Rebirth: Pravin Gordhan’s Final Journey

NEWS

ON a cloudy September day in Durban, the heavens opened up, as if nature itself was paying tribute to a fallen hero. Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan, the anti-apartheid icon, former cabinet minister, and relentless anti-corruption crusader, was being laid to rest. But in the gentle patter of raindrops, there was no sorrow – only whispers of renewal and rebirth. As mourners gathered outside the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, their umbrellas a sea of colors against the grey sky, the rain seemed to embody the very essence of Gordhan's life and legacy. Each droplet, according to Hindu…

Apr

06

2024

By ILANA WEBSTER-KOGEN

A tribute to Maurice El Medioni, the last of the Algerian-born Jewish musical stars

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MAURICE El Medioni, Algerian-born Jewish musician and mentor to young performers, died on 25 March 2024, leaving a legacy of musical production on three continents – Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Maurice El Medioni lived his early life in Oran, western Algeria. Like the vast majority of the Jewish community, he moved to France in 1961/1962 when Algeria became independent. The tragedy of the mass migration of Jews from the Arab world between 1949 and 1970 has become a topic of intense academic and media interest over the past decade. And as the people sometimes referred to as Mizrahi…

Nov

01

2023

By STEVE GORMAN

Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ co-stars pay tribute to fallen cast mate

WORLD

THE five surviving co-stars of the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends" paid tribute to their fallen cast mate, Matthew Perry, in a joint message lamenting his death two days earlier as an "unfathomable loss." In a brief statement published by People magazine, actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer spoke out publicly for the first time since news broke that Perry was found lifeless in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on Saturday. He was 54. "We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are…

Jun

14

2023

By CRISTIANO CORVINO

‘Goodbye President’: Berlusconi fans pay tribute to late leader

WORLD

SUPPORTERS of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi gathered outside his villa near Milan on a rainy Tuesday morning to honour the billionaire who dominated Italy's politics, business and soccer world for nearly three decades. Berlusconi died on Monday aged 86, three days after his readmission to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he had spent a month and a half in April-May to treat a lung infection and a chronic form of leukaemia. He was a highly divisive figure who set the mould for other businessmen-turned-politicians like former U.S. President Donald Trump. Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in 2013 and temporarily…

Jan

13

2023

By The African Mirror

Ousmane Sembène @ 100: ‘Father of African cinema’

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

1 January 2023 marked the centenary of the birth of Ousmane Sembène, the Senegalese novelist and filmmaker hailed as the “father of African cinema”. Over the course of five decades, Sembène published 10 books and directed 12 films across three distinct periods. He has been celebrated for his beautifully crafted political works, which range in style from the psychological realism of Black Girl in 1966 to the biting satire of Xala (The Curse) in 1974. Author DAVID MURPHY, Professor of French and Postcolonial Studies, University of Strathclyde Since his death in 2007, Sembène’s status as a pioneer has been further…

Jul

01

2022

By THABO MBEKI

Thabo Mbeki’s moving tribute to Kenneth “KK” Kaunda

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I had the great privilege of spending almost two decades in this great African city and country, constantly exposed to President Kaunda’s leadership. I am therefore acutely aware of the reality that I will be speaking today of an outstanding African patriot who was to the end of his life my own leader. Author Thabo Mbeki A few days after President Kaunda passed away, on 26 June 2021, one Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo, caused the publication in the Nigerian newspaper, Premium Times, of an Obituary entitled “Kenneth Kaunda: The last African Liberation Giant goes home”. The Obituary said: “Barely a week ago,…

Jun

08

2021

By The African Mirror

President leads tributes to legendary actress

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has led the nation in paying warm tributes to legendary film, TV and stage actress, Shaleen Surtie-Richards. Surtie-Richards, 66, a winner of many awards, was found dead at a guest house in Cape Town, where she was filming the KykNet series Arendsvlei. Ramaphosa offered his sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the late performer. “We have lost a household performer whose distinctive energy, artistic versatility and humility touched generations of South Africans for more than three decades. On stage and screen Shaleen Surtie-Richards held a mirror to our unjust…