Nelson Mandela Foundation

Media release: Nelson Mandela Foundation offers condolences on the passing of Mama Sobukwe

Date: 15 August 2018
From: Nelson Mandela Foundation

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Mama Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe.

We at the Nelson Mandela Foundation came to know her in 2010 when we worked with her and her family to produce an exhibition in honour of her late husband, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe.

Launched in February 2011 at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, in collaboration with the Robert Sobukwe Trust, Remember Africa paid tribute to the founder and first leader of the Pan Africanist Congress. The title was inspired by a conversation with Mama Sobukwe at her home in the Eastern Cape town of Graaff-Reinet when she reminded us that her husband would regularly greet people with the words, "Remember Africa".

The exhibition, which went on to be displayed in other parts of the country, depicts Sobukwe’s life from his formative years in Graaff-Reinet through his years at Fort Hare University and later as a political activist and a prisoner on Robben Island.

Our condolences to her friends, comrades and family.