Barbara Masekela

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Barbara Mosima Joyce Masekela (born July 18, 1941 in Alexandra ) is a South African former teacher , poet , politician of the African National Congress (ANC) and diplomat .

Life

Masekela was born in 1941 as the second of four children. Her older brother was the jazz musician Hugh Masekela . Her parents were Thomas Selema Masekela, a health inspector and sculptor, and social worker Pauline Masekela. She grew up with her grandmother near Witbank and returned to Alexandra when she was ten, where she attended Saint Michael's Anglican School and met Bishop Trevor Huddleston . She then went to the Inanda Girls' Seminary in Durban , where she met the ANC President Albert Luthuli . After graduating from high school, she worked for the New Age newspaper. After six months, she began studying at what was then the University of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland (UBBS) in Roma in Basutoland , before moving to Ghana after another six months to help set up the local education system. However, she contracted tuberculosis and was taken to the UK for a cure . She then moved to the United States and studied at Fordham University . She experienced racism , fell ill again and moved to the University of Zambia in 1967 . In her third year, she was in a car accident and moved to the United States to convalesce with her brother Hugh. At the Ohio State University there , she finally earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English. In 1972 she began teaching at Staten Island Community College ; From 1973 to 1982 she taught English literature at Rutgers University . During this time she obtained a master’s degree in 1976 . At the same time she was part of the ANC's observer mission to the United Nations .

In 1982 she moved back to Zambia , where she worked at the ANC and, after a year, headed its Department of Arts and Culture .

In 1990 she accompanied Nelson Mandela on his first trip abroad after his long imprisonment as a personal assistant in the USA and India . In 1991 she was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC in Durban . She took part in the CODESA talks on the country's political future. From 1995 to 1999 she was South Africa's ambassador to France and to UNESCO . From 2003 she was ambassador to the USA. She has also worked in numerous companies, including director of Standard Chartered Bank in South Africa, the South African Broadcasting Corporation , the World Diamond Council and the International Marketing Council . She was also Executive Director of De Beers Consolidated Mines until 2003 . She is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation .

Masekela has three sons with Henry Makgothi , who died in 2011 ; according to other sources, she has two sons.

Awards

2008: Order of Luthuli in silver

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on September 6, 2017
  2. ↑ Family feud over struggle icon's estate. news24.com of March 10, 2012 (English), accessed on September 6, 2017
  3. ^ Elaina Loveland: Educator and diplomat. South Africa's Barbara Masekela. nafsa.org from September / October 2007 (English; PDF)
  4. ↑ List of recipients of the order 2008 at sahistory.org.za (English)
personal data
SURNAME Masekela, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Masekela, Barbara Mosima Joyce (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African teacher, poet, politician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandra