Winnie Mandela laid to rest in mammoth public funeral

FORTY thousand people turned up at a funeral ceremony in the township of Soweto to farewell South Africa’s anti-apartheid heroine Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Madikizela-Mandela’s death on April 2 at the age of 81 after a long illness was met by an outpouring of emotion across the country, with the ruling African National Congress and opposition parties holding memorials to remember her courage in the struggle to end white-minority rule.

The official funeral service for the ex-wife of the late Nelburg, son Mandela took place yesterday in Soweto, the Johannesburg township at the forefront of the battle against apartheid, where she lived.

The burial ceremony at Fourways Memorial Park Cemetery, north of Johannes- ended a nearly two-week mourning period.

Earlier, mourners sang and cheered as Madikizela-Mandela’s body was brought into the 40,000-seat Orlando stadium (pictured), filled to capacity for the funeral service.

Many mourners were clad in the green and yellow colours of the ANC. Members of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party also attended.

During Mandela’s 27-year incarceration, MadikizelaMandela campaigned for his release and for the rights of blacks undergoing detention.