We shouldn’t pass over Winnie’s dark side

WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela turns 80 today. She celebrated her birthday early at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town last week. The event was attended by a number of notable public figures, many of whom were not shy in their praise for her.

Madikizela-Mandela no doubt suffered dreadfully during apartheid. She became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid and a rallying point for poor, black South Africans.

But we should not forget the darker side of her past.

In 1991, she was charged with the assault and kidnapping of Stompie Seipei, a 14-year-old township activist. One of her bodyguards was charged with his murder. She was sentenced to six years, reduced to a fine on appeal.

She was dismissed as deputy minister of arts and culture in 1996 by president Mandela.

In 2003, she was convicted of fraud and theft in connection with a loan scandal involving poor people. On appeal, her conviction for theft was overturned, but she was given a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for fraud.

Madikizela-Mandela remains an ANC MP, with an annual remuneration package of just over R1 million. She is known for not attending Parliament, one of her primary responsibilities as an MP. This year she has attended none of the meetings in Parliament she was supposed to attend.

This was also the case for 2014, although last year she did attend 12 percent of the meetings she was supposed to.

Madikizela-Mandela may use her dotage to reflect on her past, but do we really want to call her Mother of the Nation? Andrew Cadman