South African activist, Winnie Madikizela Mandela has died at the age of 81 after battling a long illness. She was once married to former South Africa’s beloved President, Nelson Mandela of blessed memory but she never cowered in his shadow she was an activist in her own right.
When Gertrude and Columbus Madikizela had their fourth daughter in 1936, they gave her the name Nom Zamo if indeed parents have premonitions of their children’s lives, Winnie Mandela was aptly named “Nom Zamo’ in their native Xhosa Language while literally means “she who strives: for more than six decades, she spent her life striving for justice for herself, her family and her country until her death on Monday April 2nd 2018 at the age of 81.
Her famed marriage to the symbol of anti-apartheid was bound to make her a collaborator in the fight against racial segregation in that country, but her struggle actually began before the two met at a time when it was a rarity for black people to go to school. She attended the Jan H Hopmeyr School of social work and earned a degree in social work at the age of 20.
It was not until two years later that she met a handsome fourth-year-old man at a bus stop where she was trying to get home from her job as a social worker, Rolih Lahla Nelson Mandela a tall charming man and soon enough a romance ensued between them.
Winnie was weary that the man was married and had three children already. He convinced her that the marriage had become strained as a result of his involvement into politics. Eventually, Mandela’s first wife Evelyn Mase filed for divorce, citing adultery on the part of her husband that same year, 1958 Mandela and Winnie got married, their happiness was doomed to be short lived.
In five years, the couple had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziwa but due to his work in fighting against apartheid Mandela was frequently picked up and charged to court. However, in 1963, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of planning a violent over throw of the government.
The responsibility of continuing the struggle fell on the young wife’s shoulders and she carried on where Mandela stopped, she was arrested and detained several times often tortured, but her spirit was never broken she led the political party ANC like an Athena. In 1969 she was kept in solitary confinement for 18 months.
Even when she was banished to exile in 1977, her house was bombed twice by apartheid operatives, but her work was not without controversy. She was widely criticized for endorsing the killing of political opponents and quoted in 1986 as saying: “with our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country (Necklacing as in the burning of people with tyres around their necks).
She was also said to have a security force known as Mandela United Football Club whose role was to kill opponents and turncoats Most notoriously, she and her body guards were accused of slitting the throat of 14 years-old-Stompie Moeketsi who they suspected to be a police informer. She was given a six year jail term but offered the option of a fine.
Her criminal accusations also included several cases of intimidation and blackmail, little wonder publications described her as a “tarnished symbols. When Mandela was released from prison in 1990, she was on his arm and sang the “Bring him home song”. She was by default the frist lady of the new democratic South, Africa.
Like it was before Mandela’s conviction the love was short lived the couple separated in 1992 and finally divorced in 1994. Winnie’s affair with a young lawyer, Dali Mpofu proved too bitter a pill for the old man to swallow, still she was part of his cabinet as deputy minister of Arts, Culture Science and Technology until she was sacked in 1985 after allegations of corruption, she later included her maiden name in full appellation going by Winnie Madikizela Mandela.
In 2003, she was again found guilty of embezzlement and given a suspended sentence of three years, but she returned to politics as a member of parliament from 2009 until her death. Every hero has an achilles heel, perhaps Winnie Mandela’ hubris was her unflinching conviction in whatever she believed in, even when it seemed like the end did not actually justify the means.
She was unflinching and blessed or is it cursed with a scatting tongue. She once reportedly called Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu ( another revered figure in South Africa) a cretin, Mandela himself was not left out of her sharp criticism His Concilliatory approach to the new South Africa with something she did not agree with Mandela did not go to prison and he went in there as a burning young revolutionary”, she once said an interview. But look what came out, Mandela let us down, he agreed to a bad deal for the blacks.
Nevertheless, her devotion to Mandela continued until he died. Many observers believed that the two were sole mates and never actually stopped loving each other even if she went to court to prove that their divorce was a fraud and he completely left her out of his will. Graca Machel whom Mandela later married also had a courteous relationship with her and once said.
“It is unfortunate that in our lives we don’t interact very easily, but I want to state very clearly that Winnie is my hero, Winnie is someone I respect highly since her passing on Monday several nes outlets have described her as a flawed hero mugger and controversial, but she would not have minded her life she repeatedly said was dedicated to the struggle against shite rule, in her words: “I was married to the ANC, it was the best marriage I ever had, I am not sorry, I would never be sorry, I would do everything I did again if I had to everything”, Winnie is survived by two daughters, eight grandchildren and a nation in mourning source, net news ltd.