Brother weeps for his fierce big sister

● As thousands of mourners paid their final respects to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela yesterday, one of her surviving siblings had to watch her funeral on television.

A frail Bodweni Redface Madikizela, 78, could not travel from his Eastern Cape home in Mbhongweni to Soweto, Johannesburg, but was glued to his television set from more than 800km away as several speakers including President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to the struggle stalwart.

“There is nothing I can do nor say to reverse God’s wishes,” a “pained” Madikizela said in a telephone interview.

“All I can say is, go well my sister, all those lives you saved and those that unfortunately died during the struggle, may they be by your side and protect you wherever you are going, because we do not know each other’s sins.”

Madikizela was watching with his wife, Nowam Felicia Madikizela.

Madikizela said he woke up early to watch the funeral proceedings and could not hold back tears when his niece, Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, became emotional on the stage.

“My heart is in pain. I will never see my sister again and it is a pity that I did not get a chance to bid farewell to her properly. What is more painful is that I will never see her again. If it is true that there is life after death, then we shall meet there,” he said.

Asked about his memories of his older sister, Madikizela laughingly said that she used to beat him when he went astray.

“She used to beat me when I did anything wrong, especially if I skip school or herd the cattle on Saturdays. She was also very fast, because when she beat me I would run, but she would catch up and beat me some more.”

He said that when he went to work in Germiston in 1964, he lived with Madikizela Mandela at her Soweto home for about a month until he decided to leave because of the brutality of the security police.

“I went to live with other family members in Germiston because police used to raid her house about three times a day. Police were abusing her privacy because they would wake us up, and even in the evening they were there — we hardly slept. I decided to leave, but she was very strong and not deterred.

“If I was still in Joburg I would go to the funeral, but now [that] I am here and not in a good state of health I unfortunately cannot go,” he said.