21 ICONS - Zubeida Jaffer

Zubeida Jaffer - “I believe that I am part of a common humanity. One South Africa, one world, one universe. I’m a child of God. I've got many identities but I am not prepared to accept that I’m one thing only. We have to get people away from this idea that they’re pink and blue and white and grey. In the end, we are very close, all of us, to one another. We have the same feelings and if we get hurt, we feel the same.”

21 ICONS is a showcase for the South African spirit; a tribute to the men and women who have helped to shape our country and, indeed, our world. 21 ICONS featured the fourteenth icon of its second season: Zubeida Jaffer, award-winning South African journalist and author.

Holding a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York, she was the first South African woman to receive the USA’s Foreign Journalist Award in 1994. She also received an award from the New York Foreign Press Association for outstanding academic and professional work. In an intimate conversation with Steirn, Jaffer talks about her journey as a journalist who always seeks to uncover the truth and give people who can’t extend their own voices an outlet to share and express their views, opinions and thoughts.