February 15, 2007
By Lucille Davie
IT was a warm evening to celebrate the cool Bob Marley when Johannesburg's executive mayor Amos Masondo and Rita Marley got down on Constitution Hill.
Together they paid tribute to the Jamaican reggae master on Valentine's night by opening an exhibition of Marley photographs and dining in his honour.
Paying homage to Bob Marley: Rita Marley and Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
On Wednesday, 14 February, in a black-draped marquee with Marley's music playing in the background, a crowd of about 80 people, some dressed in stylish kaftans, Rastafarian dreadlocks and knitted tea-cosy hats, celebrated the life of Bob Marley. The singer died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 36.
A parade of top officials was among the guests, including the Speaker, Nkele Ntingane; the City manager, Mavela Dlamini; the councillor for public safety, Thomas Phakhathi; the councillor for transportation, Rehana Moosajee, Cape Town's mayor, Helen Zille; Ekurhuleni's mayor, Duma Nkosi; the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Puis Langa; the chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality, Joyce Seroke; and members of the Marley family.
"We gather here this evening to celebrate the life of one of the most recognised faces of world popular culture, Bob Marley," Masondo said. "This year, together with his family, we are privileged to celebrate his birthday."
Marley was born on 6 February 1945 - he would have been 62 this year had he lived.
Rita Marley launched her book, No Woman, No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley earlier in the week. And before the dinner, several rooms of striking photographs of Marley, plus a video, were unveiled in the Old Fort. The exhibition, entitled Freedom Fighters, will run until mid-April, when the photographs will be auctioned.
The Marley family is in South Africa to promote the Bob and Rita Marley Africa Unite project, through a series of benefit concerts, symposiums and fundraisers. Africa Unite 2007 is an initiative to encourage peace, education and youth empowerment in Africa through reinforcing Bob Marley's songs of freedom.
Not only does the visit coincide with Marley's birthday, but it also comes during and Black History Month. The family has also visited Durban.
Rita Marley, looking glamorous in a twinkling, gold, ankle-length dress, with matching gold earrings and a tall head-dress, exchanged gifts with Masondo. He gave her a framed photograph of the Nelson Mandela Bridge and several books on the city, while she presented him with a rare photograph of her husband - "no one else has this photograph" - and a copy of her book.
"I can't find the words to express my feelings," she said. Then, showing she still had a lot of groove in her, she added: "I wish I had a band up here - I could sing."
Her daughter, Cedella Marley, exhibited her fashion range, labelled Catch A Fire. So, between the main course of roast rack of lamb or chicken breast, and the dessert of Jamaican pudding with golden sauce and coconut cornells, diners greeted the minis, shiny boots, hot pants, berets, tall heels and gypsy skirts with wild enthusiasm.
Director of events for the City of Johannesburg, Bongi Mokaba, chats to Rita Marley
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
"Bob Marley despised racism, colonialism and oppression and this remains an important element of his legacy; and no doubt he would be pleased to see it remembered in a free South Africa," Masondo said.
Rita Marley echoed the sentiment. "We had a dream about coming to Africa and how we could stop apartheid," she said.
Each table was decorated with a carved wooden head; sitting atop each head was an arrangement of flowers chosen to resemble dreadlocks.
"Bob Marley has made a significant contribution to building a free, non-sexist, non-racial and democratic South Africa," continued Masondo.
"To the Marley family, we say: welcome home, to Africa, to South Africa, to the province of Gauteng; welcome to the city of Johannesburg."
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