From mother to ‘mugger’

What did Winnie Mandela endure at the hands of the apartheid government while her husband Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years in Robben Island (“South African anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies aged 81”, Gulf News, April 3)? She was subject to arrest and detention without trial for years. Winnie played a pivotal role for the freedom struggle of South Africa which lead to the elections in 1994 and African National Congress came to power. The Mandela United football Club was headed by Winnie and she was an icon of struggle against the apartheid and it was alleged she was instrumental in killing a black boy and this incident was the end of her political carrier. Winnie was transformed from mother of the nation to ‘mugger’ after this incident. However, South Africa has lost a freedom fighter.

From Mr Eappen Elias

Dubai