maWinnie arranged prayer day for women
LAST year, maWinnie Madikizela-Mandela was so worried about the spate of taxi kidnappings and killings of young women that she organised a prayer service.
The late Struggle stalwart mobilised her church in Meadowlands, Soweto, to organise a prayer day, says Methodist Church priest Refilwe Thapelo Tawana.
There were several cases of women being kidnapped, attacked and killed by suspects in a white Toyota Quantum minibus taxi in and around Soweto last year.
Tawana said: “She was worried about the taxi kidnappings and said we should have a prayer service.
“The service was held at Dobsonville Stadium and, even though she was unwell, she defied the illnesses and still came to the prayer meeting.
“She was so unwell the car dropped her off inside the tent where the prayer meeting was held. This shows that she cared so much about other people.”
Yesterday, the church maWinnie attended since 1998 held a special morning service commemorating her life and a memorial service in the afternoon,.
Besides local ANC supporters, the memorial service was also attended by parishioners from neighbouring churches.
Tawana spoke glowingly about maWinnie as a parishioner.
He said despite her status as a politician, maWinnie did not expect preferential treatment from the church. He described her as a “downto-earth” person who loved hugging and kissing people.
“I’m one of those she kissed,” he said to laughter.
Tawana, who joined the Meadowlands Zone 7 parish last year, said one of the first things he became aware of was the degree to which other congregants respected and loved maWinnie.
“They said to me, ‘Do you know that Mama always buys us a cow?’ She always wanted to be part of the church.
“Whenever she wasn’t travelling or feeling well, she’d come to church,” Tawana said.
maWinnie attended the nearly five-hour Good Friday service with her daughter Zinzi; it was to be her last. On Easter Monday, she died at Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
Tawana said: “During the service I was worried about her because she was so old and the service was so long.
“Her daughter kept fanning her and she sat throughout the service. It’s those little things that we’ll miss about her.
“We have lost, but we also celebrate a life well lived. She believed in God and did not let anything come between her and her God.”