Mzansi’s first lady of song, the late Sibongile Khumalo, has been posthumously honoured for her contribution to the music industry by Wits University.
The doctorate was conferred Wednesday 21 April at a virtual graduation ceremony where teaching students from the Faculty of Humanities received their degrees.
Accepting the award on her behalf, Ayanda Khumalo, daughter of the late jazz singer said the family was “humbled and filled with gratitude and pride at the honor of receiving this award on behalf of our mother, Dr. Sibongile Khumalo.”
Ayanda also shared how ecstatic her mother was in March 2020 when she learned that Wits would confer an honorary doctorate saying, “Sadly she never got to experience this moment physically, but I know that she is with us in spirit.” The singer and cultural activist passed away on 28 January 2021.
Professor Garth Stevens, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Wits said of the global singing sensation, “She was an ardent proponent of arts education and how it can be used for social upliftment and justice. She inspired the creation of new music by South African composers, both in the classical and jazz genres. It is fitting that the University of the Witwatersrand should honor Sibongile Khumalo and her work by bestowing on her a posthumous Honorary Doctorate Degree in Music”.
In conclusion, Ayanda reminded the audience to continue the legacy her mother had left behind saying “we need to commit ourselves to a loving, joyful, and compassionate world.”
????????? WATCH: "May we re-imagine our communities so that we continue to stay strong and resolute; as the individuals within it continue to claim their space in a contradictory world, emboldened by the knowledge that we come from those who enriched the world", says Ayanda Khumalo. pic.twitter.com/B1HuNTZ3G2
— Wits University (@WitsUniversity) April 21, 2021
