Graça Machel | |||||||||||||||
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 Graça Machel in 2010 | |||||||||||||||
| First Lady of South Africa | |||||||||||||||
| In role 18 July 1998 – 14 June 1999 | |||||||||||||||
| President | Nelson Mandela | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Zindzi Mandela Zenani Mandela | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Zanele Mbeki | ||||||||||||||
| First Lady of Mozambique | |||||||||||||||
| In role 11 November 1975 – 19 October 1986 | |||||||||||||||
| President | Samora Machel | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Marcelina Chissano | ||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | Graça Simbine (1945-10-17)17 October 1945 (age 80) Incadine,Portuguese Mozambique | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | FRELIMO (1973–present) African National Congress (1998–present) | ||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||
| Children | 2, includingJosina Z. Machel | ||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Mandela family (by marriage) | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Teacher,politician,activist | ||||||||||||||
Graça Machel (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈɡɾasɐmɐˈʃɛl];née Simbine[sĩˈbinɨ]; born 17 October 1945) is aMozambican politician and humanitarian. Machel is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and was made an honoraryDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by QueenElizabeth II in 1997 for her humanitarian work. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries:South Africa andMozambique. She is the widow of former President of MozambiqueSamora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South AfricaNelson Mandela (1998–2013).
Graça Machel is a member of theAfrica Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. As a panel member, she facilitates coalition building to leverage and broker knowledge, and convenes decision-makers to influence policy for lasting change in Africa.
She waschancellor of theUniversity of Cape Town between 1999 and 2019.
Graça Simbine was born17 days after her father's death, the youngest of six children,[1] in rural Incadine,Gaza Province,Portuguese East Africa (modern-dayMozambique). She attendedMethodist mission schools before gaining a scholarship to theUniversity of Lisbon inPortugal, where she studiedGerman and first became involved in independence issues.
Machel also speaksFrench,Spanish,Italian,Portuguese andEnglish, as well as her nativeXitsonga language.
Simbine returned to Portuguese East Africa in 1973, joining theMozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and working as a schoolteacher. FollowingMozambique's independence in 1975, Simbine was appointed Mozambican's first Minister of Education and Culture on 25 June 1975.
During her tenure, the number of students enrolled in primary and secondary schools rose from about 40 per cent of all school-aged children to over 90 per cent for males and 75 per cent for females.[2]
Graça Machel received the 1992 Africa Prize, awarded annually to an individual who has contributed to the goal of eliminating hunger in Africa by the year 2000. Machel received the 1995Nansen Medal from theUnited Nations in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work, particularly on behalf ofrefugee children.[3]
In 1997, Machel was honored with theDame Commander of theOrder of the British Empire by QueenElizabeth II for her contributions and services in the field of human rights protection. In the same year, she received the Global Citizen Award of the New England Circle. Machel was one of the two winners of the 1998North–South Prize awarded by the North-South Centre of theCouncil of Europe.[4]
Machel was chancellor of theUniversity of Cape Town from 1999 to 2019.[5][6] In 2009, Machel was appointed to theCommonwealth of Nations'Eminent Persons Group. She was named president of theSchool of Oriental and African Studies at theUniversity of London in 2012.[7] In 2016, Machel was named chancellor of theAfrican Leadership University, a role that she still holds today.[8][9]
In July 2017, Machel was elected anHonorary Fellow of theBritish Academy (HonFBA), theUnited Kingdom'snational academy for the humanities and social sciences.[10]In 2018, she was awarded by theWorld Health Organization for her contributions to the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
On 17 July 2018, Machel attended the16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, which was located at theWanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, alongside South African PresidentCyril Ramaphosa and former US PresidentBarack Obama. The event was visited by nearly 15,000 people, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth.[11]
In the lead‑up toCOP 27, Machel advocates that Africa's youth should have a greater say in climate politics and warned that existingdevelopment aid programs covering, for example, education may well be cut and diverted to fundclimate change adaptation instead.[12]
Following her retirement from the Mozambique ministry, Machel was appointed as the expert in charge of producing the groundbreakingUnited Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children.[13] From 2008 until 2009, she was a member of the High-Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, co-chaired byGordon Brown andRobert Zoellick.[14] She served as the Chair ofThe Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) from 2013-2018. In January 2016, she was also appointed byUnited Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon to the High-level Advisory Group forEvery Woman Every Child.[15]
On 17 January 2016, she was appointed as aSustainable Development Goals Advocate[16] alongside 16 others, all appointed bySecretary-General of the United Nations
On 18 July 2007 inJohannesburg, South Africa,Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, andDesmond Tutu convenedThe Elders. Mandela announced its formation in a speech on his 89th birthday. The group works on thematic as well as geographically specific subjects. The Elders' priority issue areas include theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict, theKorean Peninsula,Sudan andSouth Sudan,sustainable development, andequality for girls and women.[17]
Machel has been particularly involved in The Elders' work onchild marriage, including the founding ofGirls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage.[18][19]
Corporate boards
Non-profit organizations
Simbine marriedSamora Machel, the first president of Mozambique, in 1975. Together they had two children: daughterJosina (born April 1976) and son Malengane (born December 1978). Samora Machel died in office in 1986 when his presidential aircraft crashed near theMozambique-South Africa border. Josina is a women's rights activist and in 2020 was listed as one of the BBC's100 Women.[31]
Graça Machel Mandela married her second husband,Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg on 18 July 1998, Mandela's 80th birthday. At the time, Mandela was serving as the first post-apartheid president ofSouth Africa. Mandela died of pneumonia on 5 December 2013.[32]
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Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | First Lady of Mozambique 1975–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Vacant Title last held by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela | First Lady of South Africa 1998–1999 | Succeeded by |
