Activist and musician Jonas Gwangwa is currently receiving medical attention at 1 Military hospital in Pretoria.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent well wishes to Gwangwa.
“The thoughts and prayers of all South Africans are with our beloved national treasure, Ntate Jonas Gwangwa, and his family. We wish him a speedy and full recovery,” the President said on Wednesday.
Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa has visited Gwangwa and assured that he is recovering well and is in good spirits.
Gwangwa is a globally renowned jazz trombonist and an esteemed member of the National Order of Ikhamanga. He was honoured in 2010 for his exceptional contribution to music and the struggle for freedom in South Africa.
One song of his that continues to reverberate with emotive melody is the aptly titled ‘Flowers of the Nation’.
Believing that politics and culture cannot be separated. Gwangwa’s total commitment to the struggle to end apartheid was thus intrinsic to his music.
So intense and rousing were his instrumental tunes, that the apartheid censorship machinery banned his records without bothering to check the lyrical content.
(Edited by Johanna Molokomme)
