Winnie Mandela dies at 81
Johannesburg, April 2: Winnie Mandela, the former wife of South African anti- apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, died on Monday at the age of 81, her spokesman said. She died in a Johannesburg hospital after a long illness, spokesman Victor Dlamini said in a statement.
Winnie Mandela, who was married to Nelson Mandela for 38 years, played a high- profile role in the battle to end whiteminority rule but her place in history was also stained by controversy.
“It is with profound sadness that we inform the public that Mrs Winnie Madikizela- Mandela passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday,” said a statement issued by Dlamini, a family spokesman.
“She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones.”
Most of Winnie’s marriage to Nelson was spent apart, with Nelson imprisoned for 27 years.
Johannesburg: Nelson Mandela’s ex- wife Winnie Madikizela- Mandela, an anti- apartheid activist in her own right whose reputation was sullied by scandal, has died. She was 81. The woman many South Africans once described as the “Mother of the Nation” and a champion of the black majority, died “surrounded by her family and loved ones,” according to a statement released by Madikizela- Mandela’s family.
Ms Madikizela- Mandela was the second of Mandela’s three wives, married to him from 1958 to 1996.
Mr Mandela, who died in 2013, was imprisoned throughout most of their marriage, and Ms Madikizela- Mandela’s own activism against white minority rule led to her being jailed for months and placed under house arrest for years.
“She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one of its most recognizable faces,” the family said.
However, Ms Madikizela- Mandela’s political activism was marred by her conviction in 1991 for kidnapping and assault, for which she was fined. She faced these allegations again during the 1997 hearings before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that investigated apartheidera crimes.
As a parliamentarian after South Africa’s first all- race elections, she was convicted of fraud.
Still, Ms Madikizela-Mandela remained a venerated figure in the ruling African National Congress, which has led South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.
She continued to tell the party “exactly what is wrong and what is right at any time,” said senior ANC leader Gwede Mantashe.
The ANC, which was the main movement against apartheid, had lost popularity in recent years in part because of scandals linked to former President Jacob Zuma, who resigned in February.