Presidents salute Coetzee

2003-10-03 11:24

Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki has hailed the Nobel victory of former University of Cape Town academic and author JM Coetzee.

"Our country has won a number of accolades in the world in a diverse array of human endeavours. This latest Nobel victory by JM Coetzee joins the greatest of the honours bestowed upon some of our colleagues."

"On behalf of the South African nation and indeed, the continent of Africa, we take off our hats to and salute our latest Nobel Laureate and bask with him in the glory radiating from this singular recognition."

Former president Nelson Mandela also congratulated compatriot JM Coetzee.

"For a small country here on the southern tip of Africa to have produced two Nobel Prize winners in literature is indeed a remarkable achievement," Mandela's office said in a statement.

Coetzee was named the winner of the prestigous award on Thursday, following in the footsteps of anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1991.

Deputy Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Buyelwa Sonjica congratulated Coetzee on behalf of her ministry. She said: "Mr Coetzee gained literary recognition and accolades when he published a book called Waiting for the Barbarians in 1980. The book deals with relations between the colonial powers and indigenous communities. "

"He consolidated this achievement by publishing The Life and Times of Michael K for which he received the coveted Booker Prize. In this literary work, Coetzee presents human beings in relative situations of powerlessness."

"As a writer, he distinguishes himself through the manner in which he conveys elements which portray what saves a soul and what damns it."

"His latest work called "Disgrace" won him a second Booker Prize. It created controversy and debate in the way that it conveyed a very bleak outlook of contemporary South Africa. It is appropriate that arts provokes debate in a democracy such as ours.

The Ministry "acknowledges and holds in high esteem the literary contribution that Coetzee has made in South Africa and it is indeed befitting that he has been awarded the highest literary prize in the world."

Five other South Africans have won Nobel Prizes, including Mandela and South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, who jointly received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993.

Coetzee was born in South Africa but now lives in Australia.

"His consistent portrayal of the violence and distortions of colonialism and apartheid have made him an intellectual hero in the history of our country," Mandela said.

"He might have emigrated but we shall continue to claim him as our own." - I-Net Bridge / AFP

- AFP