She Held Citizenship and Passports from Nine (9) Different Countries.
When the apartheid government officially revoked her South African citizenship and banned her records in 1960, they attempted to render her a stateless person without a home or a voice. The international community responded with a stunning act of solidarity. To ensure she could travel the world freely as an ambassador of liberation, nine different countries, including Guinea, Algeria, Ghana, Belgium, and Cuba, granted her honorary citizenship. She traveled internationally carrying multiple diplomatic passports, effectively operating as a citizen of the world.
Miriam Makeba celebrates first visit to Cape Town after exile, c 1992. Credit: Steve Gordon