Elsa Joubert, The Iconic SA author dies of COVID19 aged 97

The 97-year-old writer died on Sunday in Cape Town due to Covid-19 related causes.

Elsa's son, Nico Steytler, confirmed that his mother died in Mediclinic Cape Town due to the virus.

Elsa Joubert's well-known book Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena) was translated into 13 languages and most recently turned into an award-winning film directed by Christian Olwagen and starring Clementine Mosimane.

In May, Elsa wrote an open letter published on Netwerk24 pleading to be able to see her relatives as she was in the "last months and weeks" of her life. "I'm suffering. Telephone calls, and videos, and Skype, and much more help, but it's not enough. It's not the same," she wrote in the letter addressed to her house doctor Hans Woermann.

According to South African History Online, Elsa, born Elsabé Antoinette Murray Joubert, was born on 19 October 1922 in Paarl where she grew up, and studied at the universities of Stellenbosch (BA and SOD) and Cape Town (MA in Afrikaans-Nederlands).

"Within two years of starting a career as a high school teacher in Cradock she became editor of Die Huisgenoot (1946-1948) and thereafter a full-time writer. Since then Joubert wrote numerous novels, short stories, travelogues and plays," the site reports.

In an interview with Die Burger that was published on 8 December 2001, Elsa is quoted as saying: "The longest journey that any person can undertake is from one human to another, through their heart.

Elsa was married to the late journalist and writer, Klaas Steytler. She leaves behind two daughters, Elsabé and Henriëtte, and a son Nico, reports Litnet. 

Arts24