Tributes to Winnie turn Friday into national doek day on Twitter
● Winnie Madikizela-Mandela “multiplied” this week when scores of women paid tribute to the mother of the nation by wearing a doek and black attire.
The hashtag #AllBlackWithADoek trended on Twitter on Friday as hundreds of people heeded the ANC’s call to honour MadikizelaMandela by posting pictures of themselves, colleagues, family and friends wearing doeks.
Professor Thuli Madonsela, chair of social justice at the Stellenbosch University law faculty, dressed in black with a red, black and white doek when she flew to a previously scheduled event in Zambia. She posted her photo with the phrase “Count Me In”.
The former public protector said her team at the Thuli Madonsela Foundation urged her to do it.
“I was always fond of Mam Winnie. I can’t imagine who else compares to her in terms of the sacrifices she made to help us obtain freedom and the fact she remained resolute and fighting . . . as long as she lived.”
Madonsela is in Zambia to address a legal conference.
“It really worked out. It also became a way of getting my colleagues who are part of the Law Association of Zambia to somehow pay respect to Mama Winnie,” she said.
Madikizela-Mandela has been associated with the doek since 1962 when she wore one to court as a sign of protest against apartheid justice. Her then husband, Nelson Mandela, had been charged with leaving the country without a valid passport.
Social media monitoring platform Talkwalker reported the #AllBlackWithADoek hashtag had appeared in 47 000 tweets since Madikizela-Mandela’s death on Monday, most of them on Friday.
About 15 000 people tweeted the hashtag in South Africa, and it was tweeted thousands of times in the US, according to Talkwalker.
Celebrity Bonang Matheba, who has more than 2.8 million followers, tweeted a picture of herself that was liked 11 000 times.
Minister for Public Service and Administration Ayanda Dlodlo posted a picture of herself and her staff dressed in black. “I never wear a Doek but for uMama I wore one today. Every day, we will celebrate you Mama, everyday!!! #AllBlackWithADoek,” tweeted the minister.
Civil engineering student Khutso Seroka, who is interning in Hendrina, Mpumalanga, posted a selfie of herself wearing black and a mandatory bright yellow safety jacket .
Seroka said most anti-apartheid struggle heroes had been men. “The only woman who stood out for me is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She is an inspiration.”
Australian Jessica Brockie, wife of Mamelodi Sundowns’s New Zealand import, Jeremy Brockie, also donned a doek.
“My Twitter account is going crazy,” she said.