‘Mother of the Nation’ mourned
SOUTH AFRICA: Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizelamandela, an anti-apartheid activist in her own right whose reputation was sullied by scandal, has died. She was 81.
The woman many South Africans called 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 her family.
Madikizela-mandela was the second of Mandela’s three wives, married to him from 1958 to 1996. Mandela, who died in 2013, was imprisoned throughout most of their marriage, and Madikizelamandela’s own activism against white minority rule led to her being jailed for months and placed under house arrest for years.
However, her political activism was marred by a 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, she remained a venerated figure in the ruling African National Congress (ANC), 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.
President Cyril Ramaphosa described Madikizela-mandela in a televised tribute as a ‘‘champion of justice and equality’’ and a ‘‘voice for the voiceless’’.
Nobel peace laureate, antiapartheid activist and former archbishop Desmond Tutu described Madikizela-mandela as ‘‘a defining symbol’’ of the fight against apartheid.
‘‘She refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings and banishment,’’ Tutu said. ‘‘Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists.’’
Madikizela-mandela had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year, according to her family. She had back surgery a year ago.
After hearing of her death, people gathered outside her home in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to sing tributes.
The Mandela marriage that survived decades of prison bars dissolved with a formal separation in 1992, two years after Nelson Mandela was released.
The couple divorced in 1996, two years after Mandela became president in South Africa’s first all-race elections, with Mandela accusing his wife of infidelity.
As the mother of two of Mandela’s children, Madikizelamandela and her ex-husband appeared to rebuild a friendship in his final years. After Mandela’s death, however, she became involved in disputes over his inheritance. –AP