Minister Marais mourns the loss of literary giant Elsa Joubert

The Western Cape and South Africa have lost another big voice in the literary world with the passing of writer Elsa Joubert. Her death follows shortly after that of Jeanne Goosen. In the space of a week, we have lost two groundbreaking female writers in Afrikaans literature.

Elsa Joubert played a major role in opening narrative spaces for the stories of women in South Africa. Her groundbreaking novel, Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena, told the story of the complex relationship between women of different races living under the Apartheid era. With this work, she brought a very important political message to her audience.

She was a woman of strength in Afrikaans literature who continued to publish many works and was also awarded with the Hertzog prize. Poppie was also recently adapted to a movie and received high praise for the story which still resonates with audiences today.

The Western Cape has sadly lost a number of important figures in the Arts and Culture environment over the past few weeks. They have all played a role in opening spaces for others to continue building on their legacy and we must continue celebrating their work.