Reggae legend Peter Tosh was posthumously bestowed with a national honour in South Africa on Friday.

The Order of the Companion of Oliver Reginald Tambo was awarded to the late singer, whose real name was Winston McIntosh, for his contribution to the fight against the apartheid regime. It was collected by the McIntosh’s youngest daughter, Niambe, at a grand ceremony in Pretoria presided over by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The award is the South African equivalent to Jamaica’s Order of Merit.

A press statement announcing the award, on the official South African Presidential website, noted that the Order will be bestowed posthumously on Tosh “for his contribution to the liberation struggle using his musical talent to advance the liberation cause worldwide through incisive and awareness-raising lyrics in his music”.
Apartheid was the institutionalised discriminatory, political, and economic system of racial segregation, which the white minority imposed on non-whites in South Africa.

Jamaica was the first country in the western hemisphere and second in the world to India which officially banned trade and travel with the fascist apartheid Government of South Africa.

Jamaican reggae artistes such as Peter Tosh and Bob Marley played an important role in highlighting the evil system to the world.