Khayelitsha memorial service today

THE ANC in the province, along with its alliance partners, will hold a memorial service to honour maWinnie Madikizela-Mandela at Mew Way hall in Khayelitsha today.

The party’s provincial secretary, Faiez Jacobs, said the service was to celebrate the life and times of maWinnie.

The service follows the one last Thursday at St George’s Cathedral where hundreds of people came to pay their respects to maWinnie. It was the first to be held in the country since she died last week.

Renowned musicians, radio and TV personalities, politicians and activists attended.

“We will gather to reflect and remember, to share the memories of her life with the hope that we can continue with her work or begin a like-work of our own.

“We remember Mama Winnie as a leader with a selfless dedication to the needs of the less fortunate and a relentless contribution to the betterment of our people. We honour her for withstanding the deplorable circumstances she faced for many decades for our freedom,” said Jacobs. The ANC and South Africans were “forever grateful to her for her remarkable courage and support of many who lost their loved ones so senselessly at the hands of the apartheid regime”.

It was in the Western Cape where maWinnie “came to give critical support to our people who were wounded and killed, whilst protesting against the second seating of the tricameral parliament in 1989”.

“The people of the Western Cape will forever be grateful for Mama Winnie’s willingness to always heed our call whenever we faced many challenges from our ugly past.”

The memorial service will start at 5pm.