Chaka Chaka receives malaria-work award

Chaka-Chaka says the award will only challenge her to work even harder for the African continent.
The Unicef goodwill ambassador against malaria will be flying to Davos in Switzerland on 23 January to accept a statuette.

Chaka-Chaka said she felt honoured to be recognised for her contributions to fighting malaria.
“This means someone out there has been watching me travel all over Africa,” she said.
“I am joyful and humbled by this honour.

“I know many world stars have been recipients of this honour. I am happy that I am the first African woman to win it.”
Chaka-Chaka also said she had been touring the world to alert people to the dangers of malaria.
“This award is given to people who are changing other people’s lives through music and other activities. I have been able to do both.

“Like the late Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuka and Abigail Kubheka, my music has changed many people’s lives.
“When you do the right thing people are watching and they honour you.”

The travelled songstress said malaria was a serious issue.
“I still want a Yvonne day where I will sit with African leaders and discuss malaria at length and map out a way forward to countering the problem of malaria.

“Talk about the eight millennium goals.”
Chaka-Chaka said that she will soon release her 23rd album.

Meanwhile anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s life story is to be turned into a six-part television mini-series co-created by his grandson, the producers behind the multinational project said on Monday. Entitled Madiba, Mandela’s clan name, the series “will take a broad view of the inner

passions and outside forces that guided him”, they said in a statement.
With a budget of $30 million (24 million euros), the project will explore Mandela’s relationship with his mother, his political activism, imprisonment, rise as political leader and election as South Africa’s first black president.

The producers did not say who would play the democracy icon, whose Nelson Mandela Foundation said it supported the undertaking and was helping with research. — Sowetan.