French honour TV presenter Leanne Manas

AWARD-WINNING broadcaster anchor Leanne Manas was bestowed the National Order of Merit by the ambassador of France to South Africa this week.

The anchor, motivational speaker and UNHCR (UN refugee agency) Goodwill Ambassador received an honorary Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit Award) on Tuesday night.

The award was presented to her at Houghton Estate by Aurélien Lechevallier, ambassador of France to South Africa, on behalf of France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

In Lechevallier’s speech, the ambassador highlighted Manas’s achievements, such as interviewing a range of public figures, heads of state, thought leaders, and local and international celebrities that included Oprah Winfrey and Nelson Mandela. She has been at the forefront of bringing South Africans some of the biggest news stories over the past two decades.

Manas, who was honoured to receive the award, said in her speech: “I do not work for recognition, but instead I aspire to do work worthy of recognition.”

She showed her gratitude to all the people who were in attendance, and most importantly the ambassador.

In attendance were family, Manas’s mother and father, her children and husband, colleagues, close friends, and some of Johannesburg’s prominent figures, namely Bantu Holomisa and the founder of Brand Africa, Thebe Ikalafeng, to name a few.

The SABC congratulated Manas in a statement on Wednesday morning.

“The public broadcaster is proud that Mrs Manas’s hard work and dedication to our SABC 2 news platform, Morning Live, continues to have a profound impact and resonance with audiences across the globe after all these years,” said Deidre Uren, the SABC’s acting group executive: news and current affairs. “We applaud her for continuously flying the South African flag high.”