The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) echoes massive appreciation to the retiring excellent SABC IsiXhosa news anchor Mrs Noxolo [Jebese] Grootboom.
As an indigenous child, Grootboom bows out of the SABC newsroom as one of the giants who through her mother-tongue reclaimed her African personality, therefore, making us all have pride in our diverse African indigenous languages in Azania.
Every evening for several years, we witnessed her adorned in African glory wishing us well with her famous remark, “Ngalo lonke ixesha nisiya kubeka iintloko, nanga ningalala nombethe ingubo yemvisiswano, uxolo nothando; ndinithanda nonke emakhaya”, and this was entrenched in the hearts of the African people
Born beyond the Nonesi mountains in Lady Frere near Komani and raised in rural Tyatyorha village in Healdtown, she developed a passion for storytelling and isiXhosa dialect which she used to develop her long career in the SABC.
It is through this broadcasting career that she cemented her memory in our minds. For over 37 years, Noxolo has been a torchbearer of IsiXhosa language in the newsroom and she did it with pride even under the brutal apartheid regime constraints.
A great storyteller she was, Grootboom made gigantic contributions to help the nation mourn different individual figures who have transitioned to the spiritual world. The PAC equally felt her aura and contribution when in 1994 it laid to rest at Independence Stadium, the late APLA Commander and its Secretary for Defence, Comrade Sabelo Phama Gqwetha. Noxolo adorned in her African-ness and African personality on that morning, permeated the words in honour of Phama’s military astuteness and she said, “u-Sabelo ubelijoni elichubekileyo elinobulumko nelivuthwe nxazonke. Ingxaki inye ngabulaSabelo ibiyi-Azania nabantwana bayo abajijitheka kwingcinezelo bezizisulu zezithende zababandezeli babo”.
Such is her greatness, those who perceived the PAC as mere angry party were presented with the real reason why the need for liberation struggle- which is the Land question.
Noxolo Grootboom’s contribution to the upliftment of isiXhosa language in this country is immensely appreciated since our country is submerged with coloniality which by design destroys African indigenous languages.
As the nation celebrates her retirement from broadcasting tonight, we ululate in honour of this broadcasting legend and wish her well in her future endeavours.
Mazi enethole Noxolo [KaJebese] Grootboom.
END!!!
Issued by the PAC Secretariat for Publicity and Information