A ruthless campaigner

Even before they were separated by Nelson Mandela’s long stay in prison, Winnie Madikizela-mandela had become politicised, being jailed for two weeks while pregnant for participating in a women’s protest. Theapartheid police later harassed her, sometimes dragging her from bed at night without giving her a chance to make arrangements for her daughters.

In 1977, she was banished to a remote town, Brandfort, where neighbours were forbidden to speak to her.

The woman who returned to Johannesburg in 1985 was much harder, more ruthless and bellicose, branded by the cruelty of apartheid and determined vengeance. In an infamous 1986 speech she threatened “no more peaceful protests”.

Instead, she endorsed the “necklacing” method of killing suspected informers and police with fuel-doused tyres put around the neck and set alight.