Stompie’s family home revamped

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule yesterday handed over the renovated family home of the late teenage activist Stompie Seipei in Parys, Free State.

“This follows the undertaking made to the family during mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s mourning period [in April]. Significantly, the handover coincides with what would have been mama Winnie’s 82nd birthday,” the party said in a statement.

Magashule visited Stompie’s mother, Joyce Seipei, in April.

The young political activist was murdered in 1989, with Madikizela-Mandela blamed for the killing.

Jerry Richardson, then coach of Mandela Football Club, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997 that Madikizela-Mandela ordered the killing of Seipei, whose body was discovered in Soweto.

However, former police commissioner George Fivaz said an investigation conducted into Stompie’s death found those allegations were false.

Meanwhile, the Brandfort home of Madikizela-Mandela remains dilapidated.

Millions of rands allocated since 2005 to turn it into a museum remain unaccounted for.

Magashule, a former Free State premier, earlier this year denied embezzlement of funds.

He said the project “has always been an engagement” between the family and government. – ANA