Mabuza says that around the country informal settlements bear her name #WinnieMadikizela expressing hope that they will one day be transformed to better living conditions.

Her activism cuts across gender, race and class. She wanted human rights for all our people. She wanted to serve humanity in its entirety, he says.

When South African Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu began painting at the tender age of 10, she never thought that she would get to travel the world just by doing something that she loved.

Mahlangu received an honorary doctorate from the University of Johannesburg on Monday evening.

“I am so grateful to the university management for the gifts given to me today. What they have done for me, they must do for others.”

Read: UJ to honour iconic Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu with honourary doctorate

“If heaven was within reach, I would fly. I never thought that painting would work out so well. I got to travel the world just by doing something that I did out of love,” she added.

She was accompanied by members of her community, clad in traditional regalia.

Mahlangu, whose full names are Esther Nikwambi, was born in Middelburg, Mpumalanga in 1935.

In an interview with News24 in September, shortly after she had been honoured with a mural in New York, the 82-year-old said her journey with her love for her culture and Ndebele artwork began when she was 10 years old, when she used to watch her mother and grandmother painting the outside walls of their home.

Read more: Celebrating the custodian of Ndebele culture – Heritage icon, Esther Mahlangu

She longed to join them and when the pair took a break from painting, she would steal the paint and try her luck. But, as soon as they returned, she would be out of sight.

“They always said: ‘Don’t ever do that again, you are ruining things,'” she told News24.  

The following day Mahlangu would do it again, and again she faced the wrath of her matriarchs.

Eventually, her mother and grandmother gave up and allocated Mahlangu a small space on the wall, which was away from the public, where she could practice drawing Ndebele patterns.

“The next day, I would go there, sit on a tin and take chicken feathers and paint, paint and paint.”

Mahlangu added that her mother and grandmother inspected her work daily.

“Eventually they told me that my work was impressive and they called me to paint the front of the house, and I never looked back until I got married. In my culture, they used to say when you get married, you have to paint your first house yourself.”

On Monday evening, the university’s vice-chancellor and principal Professor Tshilidzi Marwala said the university recognised Mahlangu’s legacy as a cultural entrepreneur who skilfully negotiated local and global worlds as an educator.

“As a visionary individual, she traversed what to others are insurmountable political barriers. In the late 1980s, when KwaNdebele and Moutse region erupted in anti-apartheid violence, she [broke] down barriers in her own way.

“During the time she was invited to participate in the groundbreaking Magiciens de la Terre exhibition, a significant achievement for a black female artist at the time.

“The curators asked her to paint the walls of a life-size replica of her Mthambothini home for the exhibition…she would take the language of Ndebele art to the world.”

Marwala added that, in order to ensure the survival of the Ndebele arts, Mahlangu taught young people at her home.

“She also shares her expertise via a project that aims to document Southern African visual culture as expression of a diversity of inherited local knowledge systems that date back to before the colonisation of Southern Africa.”

“Esther Mahlangu is a living example of how authentic African knowledge systems can be articulated meaningfully and sustainably.

“In her we have an icon worthy of being looked upon to by the next generation of creatives,” Marwala said.

He said the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture was honoured to confer the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Honoris Causa upon Mahlangu.

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DURBAN – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s indictment of former president Jacob Zuma states there was an illegal “common purpose” relationship between Zuma, his convicted financial advisor Shabir Shaik and French-owned arms dealer Thales South Africa, to pay and accept bribes for “political protection”.

The NPA has released the 89-page document. 

The indictment shows accused number one, Zuma, is facing one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption, one count of money laundering and 12 counts of fraud. Accused number two, Thales – represented by Christine Guerrier – is facing one count of racketeering, two counts of corruption and one count of money-laundering.

READ: Zuma tells supporters charges against him are political

Zuma and Guerrier appeared briefly before the Durban High Court on Friday where the matter was postponed until June 8.

The indictment said Zuma held “several high ranking offices in the provincial and national executive and in the African National Congress (ANC)” at the time of the alleged bribes, and effectively abused the trust and power of his position to enrich himself.

The indictment said that “accused 1 (Zuma), 2 (Thales),…  Shaik and the companies comprising the Nkobi group (controlled by Shaik), formed a common purpose to bribe accused 1 through an ongoing series of payments from Shaik and the Nkobi Group”.  It said this relationship was formed on or near October 25, 1995, until July 1, 2005, with 783 payments made totalling R4,072,499.85.

IN PICTURES: Zuma’s day in court

It said one of the red flags identifying the relationship between Shaik and Zuma was in February 1999 when an amount of over R1.20million was irregularly written off in the Nkobi accounting records. Included in the amount were various payments made to Zuma of over R283,000 as a loan.

The indictment said these payments made “no legitimate business sense” nor could any of Shaik’s companies afford them as they were “exceeding bank overdrafts and thus effectively borrowing money from banks at the prevailing interest rates to make the payments, interest-free”.

The indictment said even if the schedule of payments could be regarded as loans, they still amounted to benefits, as they were provided interest-free, without security and that Zuma’s ability to repay the money was “seriously questionable”.

WATCH: Zuma is an incredible man, says Carl Niehaus

The indictment mentions how, in 1999, Zuma intervened and assisted Shaik, the Nkobi Group and Thales Group to “resolve a dispute… regarding Nkobi’s participation” in African Defence Systems, which shortly thereafter landed a multi-billion rand contract from the state to provide combat suites to Corvettes supplied to the navy. The contract was worth R1.3-billion, with R450-million going directly to ADS and the balance going to subcontractors.

The indictment said this intervention showed an instance where Nkobi obtained the assistance of Zuma for the group’s survival and where Thales was assured of “approval” by the deputy president of the ANC, for its choice of a South African BEE partner.

Under a section called “specific corruption”, it states that between 1999 and 2000, Thales, Shaik and Zuma “conspired” to pay Zuma “R500,000 per annum as a bribe in exchange for Zuma’s protection” from any investigation.

Thales, using an offshore company in Mauritius, made payments to Shaik’s companies under the guise of “service provider agreement” which was then funnelled to Zuma, totalling R1-million.

The court heard on Friday that Zuma’s legal team would be bringing a review application – possibly by May 15 – on the decision to prosecute him. Depending on the outcome, an application could be made for a permanent stay of prosecution.

African News Agency