{"id":7662,"date":"2012-02-05T13:42:49","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T11:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/africas-best-to-get-special-honours\/"},"modified":"2012-02-05T13:42:49","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T11:42:49","slug":"africas-best-to-get-special-honours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/africas-best-to-get-special-honours\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa’s best to get special honours"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chittenden<\/p>\n

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\t\t \t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t \t\t <\/p>\n

Six African luminaries, including the \u201cPrincess of Africa\u201d, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, birdman Hugh Chittenden and Zuleikha Mayat, the woman synonymous with the cookbook Indian Delights<\/em>, are to have honorary degrees conferred on them by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in April. <\/p>\n

The six are being recognised for their \u201coutstanding\u201d work in their respective fields. <\/p>\n

Thudiso Gcabashe, a community worker and national orders recipient, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, once described as \u201cperhaps the greatest living African scholar\u201d, and conservationist and \u201celephant whisperer\u201d Lawrence Anthony round off the list. <\/p>\n

For Chittenden and Mayat, the accolade is particularly special as neither went to university. <\/p>\n

Chittenden is chairman of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, which publishes all editions of Roberts Birds of South Africa. <\/p>\n

The Eshowe resident is busy making the final corrections to an illustrated guide on sub-species of birds in southern Africa, which will be published this year. <\/p>\n

\"NM<\/p>\n

205- Lawrence Anthony co-owner of Thulu Thula Private Game Reserve and author of ‘The elephant Whisperer’ talks during an interview at the Safari Lodge. 171109 Picture: Karen Sandison<\/p>\n

INLSA<\/span><\/p>\n

The university praised Chittenden for his efforts in increasing public understanding of ornithology, calling his knowledge \u201cencyclopaedic\u201d. <\/p>\n

However, Chittenden, 64, said he was simply a \u201cretired horticulturalist with a birding hobby\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis (the honorary degree) is a huge accolade for anyone. There are not many people in KwaZulu-Natal who have received it. I never went to university. When I was young I just wasn\u2019t interested,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Aside from being a culinary whizz, Mayat, 85, of Westville, is also a poet, cultural and religious leader, and gender activist. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been doing my work all these years, but never working toward accolades. I never dreamt of anything like this\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

The university said her \u201cpioneering and bold\u201d efforts in tackling gender issues, and sensitive cultural and religious practices regarding the role of women, had made her a \u201cremarkable role model\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"NM<\/p>\n

Ugandan-born author Mahmood Mamdani called on African governments to invest more in education resources for its people.<\/p>\n

Ex-QDMS<\/span><\/p>\n

Chaka Chaka is still in Switzerland, having received the World Economic Forum\u2019s Crystal Award there last week. <\/p>\n

The Unicef Goodwill Ambassador for Malaria in Africa, and first ambassador for the Nelson Mandela Children\u2019s Fund, is the first African woman to receive the award. <\/p>\n

UKZN said Anthony, the author of The Elephant Whisperer<\/em>, had travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in an attempt to save the northern white rhino from extinction, and had formed the first SPCA in Iraq. <\/p>\n

Mamdani, of Uganda, would be recognised for his contribution \u201cin reclaiming Africa\u2019s contribution to the global knowledge project and in knowledge generation in and of Africa\u201d, the university said. <\/p>\n

Gcabashe, from KZN, has distinguished herself through contributions to youth development and society at large, in religion, poverty alleviation and community health. <\/p>\n

In 2009 she received the Order of the Baobab (Silver) for her \u201cselfless and courageous\u201d service and her \u201csterling dedication to women\u2019s empowerment and commitment to the development of education for the rural and disadvantaged communities\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"NM<\/p>\n

Thudiso Gcabashe receiving the Order of the Baobab Silver from President Jacob Zuma at the presentation of National Orders at the Presidential Guesthouse yesterday.
\nPicture: Etienne Creux<\/p>\n

Inl SA<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chittenden Six African luminaries, including the \u201cPrincess of Africa\u201d, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, birdman Hugh Chittenden and Zuleikha Mayat, the woman synonymous with the cookbook Indian Delights, are to have honorary degrees conferred on them by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in April. The six are being recognised for their \u201coutstanding\u201d work in their respective fields. Thudiso […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-7662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}