EFF member Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has congratulated American artist Beyoncé on her Grammy Award win for Album of the Year.
Beyoncé's Country record Cowboy Carter earned her the top prize, making her the first black woman to achieve this feat in this century, and the fourth in Grammy history.
“I feel very full and very honoured. It's been many, many years,” Beyoncé said on stage while accepting the award.
Taking to X, Ndlozi said she deserved the win.
“Congratulations to Beyoncé on winning album of the year at the Grammys. She is the fourth black woman in the close to 70-year history of that institution to attain this important award which recognises a 'body of work'. She deserves it,” he said.
“She did more than win, she dedicated her win to Linda Martell, the first commercially successful black female artist in Country music. Country music, often seen as white in the US, is actually very much part of an African American heritage. Beyoncé winning with an album on Country music is itself a serous historic reclaim of Country as part of black music, in that its roots are the sounds of black slaves of the south of the US.
“It is also very much a working-class sound of blue-collar workers and their stories of exploitation. Very important indeed.”
This isn't the first time Ndlozi has publicly praised Beyoncé; he has previously shared posts wishing her a happy birthday in 2020 and congratulating her on her 2021 Grammy win.
Beyoncé's historic victory has been widely celebrated by fans and fellow artists. Her father, Mathew Knowles, who once managed her career, also praised her achievement.
“History was made on multiple levels. I love you and I am very proud of you, Beyoncé. You’ve opened the door for many in the future who might not ever have gotten a chance.”