Anti-apartheid journalist Nathaniel Nakasa's remains arrived at Durban's King Shaka International Airport on Tuesday.
Nakasa's coffin was brought from the plane to the airport's cargo section, where a guard of honour by Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association members accompanied it into a marquee.
Tributes were then paid to the late journalist.
His family, journalists, and African National Congress members were present.
Nakasa, who worked for publications including Drum magazine, the Rand Daily Mail, and Illanga newspapers, was forced to leave South Africa on an exit visa when the apartheid government refused to grant him a passport after he was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Nakasa died after falling from a building in New York in an apparent suicide in 1965. He was 28. He was buried at the city's Ferncliff Cemetery.
SA National Editors' Forum executive director Mathatha Tsedu said he had read Nakasa's work that he had written during his time at Harvard.
"It was touching stuff of a man that was longing for home. From everything that I read, his heart was here and his body was there."
Earlier this week, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa led a delegation to the United States to bring back Nakasa's remains.
Mthethwa said it was not feasible for the South African government to bring back the remains of all South Africans back to the country, but that the government would look at each case individually.
He said it would not be a case of only bringing back ANC cadres.
"I stand corrected, but as far as know Nat Nakasa did not have an ANC membership card," he said.
Nat Nakasa's remains arrive in Durban
Anti-apartheid journalist Nathaniel Nakasa's remains arrived at Durban's King Shaka International Airport on Tuesday.
Nakasa's coffin was brought from the plane to the airport's cargo section, where a guard of honour by Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association members accompanied it into a marquee.
Tributes were then paid to the late journalist.
His family, journalists, and African National Congress members were present.
Nakasa, who worked for publications including Drum magazine, the Rand Daily Mail, and Illanga newspapers, was forced to leave South Africa on an exit visa when the apartheid government refused to grant him a passport after he was awarded a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Nakasa died after falling from a building in New York in an apparent suicide in 1965. He was 28. He was buried at the city's Ferncliff Cemetery.
SA National Editors' Forum executive director Mathatha Tsedu said he had read Nakasa's work that he had written during his time at Harvard.
"It was touching stuff of a man that was longing for home. From everything that I read, his heart was here and his body was there."
Earlier this week, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa led a delegation to the United States to bring back Nakasa's remains.
Mthethwa said it was not feasible for the South African government to bring back the remains of all South Africans back to the country, but that the government would look at each case individually.
He said it would not be a case of only bringing back ANC cadres.
"I stand corrected, but as far as know Nat Nakasa did not have an ANC membership card," he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos