The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver

Adv Nakedi Ribane Awarded for:

Her excellent contribution to the performing arts and literature. She has been a consistent advocate for equity and justice in the arts.

Profile of Adv Nakedi Ribane

Adv Nakedi Ribane was born in Ga-Sekhukhune, Jane Furse in Limpopo and raised in Mamelodi, Pretoria. She has proven to be a conscientious personality who has not been shy to publicly speak out or write against injustice, inequality and unfairness in the arts or generally about social justice issues. Ribane is popularly known as Senthaolele, her character in the local Sepedi television drama, Bophelo ke Semphekgo.

She acted as Nyasa Mathiba in the teen adventure series African Skies, which aired in the USA and locally from 1992 to 1994. She began acting in the late 1980s whilst still a model, and has since appeared in numerous local and two international television series. In 2009, she had a stint in a German TV series, Love, Babies and a Big Heart, where she played a doctor.

The series was shot in Windhoek, Namibia. She has a relationship with Namibia dating back to 1995 when she choreographed Miss Katutura, with the queen becoming an automatic entrant for the first time as a national finalist. She played the leading role of Linda Mokoena, a psychologist, in the SABC2 mini-series Noah’s Ark in 2008. Ribane has since acted in feature films Waati (1995) and The Long Run (2000).

In theatre, she won the 2002 FNB Vita Best Supporting Actress Award for her role as Noria in an adaptation of Zakes Mda’s novel, Ways of Dying. While all of this was going on, she enrolled and completed her LLB degree through UNISA in 2015.

Ribane is one of South Africa’s versatile and recognised performing artists. Her career spans acting, fashion and writing. She started her modelling career in the early 1980s and advanced quickly to become one of South Africa’s top models of her era.

A published author, Nakedi’s debut book, Beauty – A Black Perspective (September 2006), received much acclaim for tackling images of beauty from a perspective not often heard in the gruelling fashion and beauty industry. She was also a fashion and beauty editor for an upmarket magazine, co-owner of modelling agency, Siyazazi, and a former model.