Tears and tributes for Mama Winnie
Doyen of the struggle dies in hospital at age 81
CROWDS of mourners flocked to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s home in the heart of Soweto yesterday, as the news of her death triggered an outpouring of tributes to one of South Africa’s defining and most divisive figures.
Madikizela-Mandela, who was married to former president Nelson Mandela for 38 years, played a high-profile role in the struggle to end apartheid, but her place in history was stained by controversy and accusations of violence.
Leading the tributes, Nobel laureate archbishop Desmond Tutu described her as a defining symbol of the battle against oppression.
“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.”
A statement from her family said that she had died at the Netcare Milpark hospital in Johannesburg.
“She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year,” it said.
“She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of [yesterday] afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones.”
The ANC’s head of policy, Jeff Radebe, described her as an icon of the revolutionary struggle.
Most of Madikizela-Mandela’s marriage to Nelson Mandela was spent apart, with Mandela imprisoned for 27 years, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone and to keep alive his political dream under the apartheid regime.
But her reputation came under damaging scrutiny in the twilight years of apartheid rule.
In 1986, she was widely linked to “necklacing”, when suspected traitors were burnt alive by a petrolsoaked car tyre being put over their head and set alight. In 1990, the world watched when Nelson Mandela finally walked out of prison -hand in hand with Winnie.
The following year, she was convicted of kidnapping and assault over the killing of Stompie Moeketsi, a 14-year-old boy.
In 1992, the Mandelas separated, and then divorced in 1996, after a legal wrangle that revealed she had had an affair with a young bodyguard.
During her old age, she re-emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of the late Mandela -and of the long and much-storied struggle against apartheid.
Just last month, Madikizela-Mandela was shown in television footage joking with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who paid a courtesy call to her home.
Dressed in full ANC colours of yellow, black and green, she asked Ramaphosa, who is known for his morning runs, “Why don’t you get tired?”
He responded: “We can’t get tired when you have given us work to do.”
Yesterday, Ramaphosa described Madikizela-Mandela as a voice of defiance and resistance who was “an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free”.
“For many years, she bore the brunt of senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism,” he said.
“Despite the hardship she faced, she never doubted that the struggle for freedom and democracy would triumph and succeed.”
Madikizela-Mandela often criti-
cised the ANC, but she had expressed support for the new leadership of the party.
Last night, Ramaphosa returned to her Soweto house as mourners gathered outside, singing struggle-era songs in tribute and praise.
Speaking outside her home, Ramaphosa said Madikizela-Mandela’s “national official funeral” would take place on April 14. An official memorial would take place three days earlier‚ on April 11.
African Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat also paid tribute to Madikizela-Mandela, saying the continent was “beyond in grief’’ at her passing.
She would forever be remembered as a global icon, a fearless campaigner who sacrificed much of her life for freedom in South Africa and for women everywhere, he said on Twitter.
Madikizela-Mandela remained embedded in the township community where she met Mandela at a bus stop in 1957.
“She was a good woman,” neighbour and college worker Elise Tsikhovi, 60, said. “When we had birthdays she would call us and when there were funerals she’d always go. When we had problems she would always help. The community was like family.”
ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe said Madikizela-Mandela was one of the last remaining leaders who was unafraid to tell the party what was right and wrong and it would miss her guidance.
In recent years, Madikizela-Mandela was increasingly critical of the trajectory of the country and the party, saying in 2016 that the party was in crisis. Madikizela-Mandela was the former head of the ANC Women’s League.
“In African culture, we sing when we’re hurt,” ANC Women’s League official Winnie Ngwenya, 64, said as dozens of well-wishers sang in a dark night.
“She was a woman who was known by everybody in Soweto – as well as in Africa and outside. We’ll remember her for her role in the struggle in Soweto.’’
Tsikhovi described how Madikizela-Mandela – known by many as “Mama Winnie” – had stayed active right to the end.
“She liked gardening -- she used to come out to her garden.
“I last saw her last month at voter registration,” she said, standing beside Madikizela-Mandela’s neat lawn, manicured trees and an ANC banner fluttering above her home.
“She wasn’t so strong by then, but she was a strong woman. Even if she was sick, she would act like she was well.”
Eastern Cape anti-apartheid activist and businessman Mkhuseli Jack said losing the torchbearer of the anti-apartheid struggle was a great loss.
“Winnie Mandela was the only person who stood up for the struggle single-handedly and kept the torch burning for years and I think she will be surely missed by everybody. Having inspirational ladies like her in the ‘80s and ‘70s really carried the struggle forward.
“The only contribution I made to her life was challenging my banning order of five years which resulted in Winnie’s order being automatically lifted in 1985.
“Whenever we met, I would always joke and remind her that I saved her from her Brandfort prison,” he recalled.
Madikizela-Mandela was banished to Brandfort in the Free State.
Veteran Black Sash leader Judy Chalmers, who served with Madikizela-Mandela in parliament for a number of years, said her comrade had the “common touch” and never behaved like the ANC royalty she was. UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said she suffered a lot in South Africa while leading the struggle while the men of the ANC were imprisoned.
“She carried on and held the torch. Eventually her campaign culminated in our freedom,” he said.
Holomisa added while others fled the country, Madikizela-Mandela had remained and resisted the apartheid police.
ANC provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane said Madikizela-Mandela had done everything in her power to get the country where it was today and had been one of the women who suffered human rights violations under apartheid.
“She’s an inspiring role model to a number of women in our country and she stood firm and her contributions towards the struggle movement and liberation of our people are immeasurable,” Mabuyane said.
DA provincial leader and former COPE MP, Nqaba Bhanga, said Madikizela-Mandela would remain an important part in his life and development in politics.
“She loved the youth and loved working with students and these are memories that I’ll always remember,” Bhanga, who was a leader in the Congress of South African Students, said.
Former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nceba Faku described her as a dedicated revolutionary – one of the few who understood what kind of South Africa the majority of people aspired to after 1994.
“That kind of calibre in leadership is now depleted through death. Our condolences to her family and the nation at large,” Faku said.
Bishop Jacob Freemantle, of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, Grahamstown District, said she had been not only a committed Methodist but had also committed to the struggle for the liberation of her country.
“Definitely there will be a vacuum but we trust that a generation of other women will rise up and pick up the baton.
“May her soul rest in peace,” Freemantle said.