Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies; Africa has lost a courageous woman – President Buhari; Women activists mourn

 

Madikizela-Mandela died peacefully surrounded by her family following a long illness that had kept her in and out of hospital since the start of the year, Victor Dlamini said in a statement.

“She fought valiantly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country,” the statement said.

“She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones.”

In her twilight years, Madikizela-Mandela, who died aged 81, had frequent run-ins with authority that further undermined her reputation as a fighter against the white-minority regime that ran Africa’s most advanced economy from 1948 to 1994.

During her husband’s 27-year incarceration, Madikizela-Mandela campaigned tirelessly for his release and for the rights of black South Africans, suffering years of detention, banishment and arrest by the white authorities.

She remained steadfast and unbowed throughout, emerging to punch the air triumphantly in the clenched-fist salute of black power as she walked hand-in-hand with Mandela out of Cape Town’s Victor Vester prison on Feb. 11, 1990.

For husband and wife, it was a crowning moment that led four years later to the end of centuries of white domination when Mandela became South Africa’s first black president.

For Madikizela-Mandela, the end of apartheid marked the start of a string of legal and political troubles that, accompanied by tales of her glamorous living, kept her in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Blamed for the killing of activist Stompie Seipei, who was found near her Soweto home with his throat cut, she was convicted in 1991 of kidnapping and assaulting the 14-year-old because he was suspected of being an informer.

Her six-year jail term was reduced on appeal to a fine.

She and Mandela separated in 1992 and her reputation slipped further when he sacked her from his cabinet in 1995 after allegations of corruption.

The couple divorced a year later, after which she adopted the surname Madikizela-Mandela.

Appearing at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) set up to unearth atrocities committed by both sides in the anti-apartheid struggle, Madikizela-Mandela refused to show remorse for abductions and murders carried out in her name.

Only after pleading from anguished TRC chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu did she admit grudgingly that “things went horribly wrong”.

In its final report, the TRC ruled that Madikizela-Mandela was “politically and morally accountable for the gross violations of human rights committed by the Mandela United Football Club” (MUFC).

Four years later, she was back in court, facing fraud and theft charges in relation to an elaborate bank loan scheme.

“Somewhere it seems that something went wrong,” magistrate Peet Johnson said as he sentenced her to five years in jail, later overturned on appeal. “You should set the example for all of us.”

Born on Sept. 26, 1936, in Bizana, Eastern Cape province, Madikizela-Mandela became politicised at an early age in her job as a hospital social worker.

“I started to realize the abject poverty under which most people were forced to live, the appalling conditions created by the inequalities of the system,” she once said.

Strikingly attractive and with a steely air – her given name, Nomzamo, means ‘one who strives’ – the 22-year-old Winnie caught the eye of Mandela at a Soweto bus-stop in 1957, starting a whirlwind romance that led to their marriage a year later.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has described the passing away of the anti-apartheid icon,  as a huge loss to Africa of a courageous woman.

The President, in a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity)

noted that she was a woman of uncommon determination, steadfastness and perseverance who held aloft the torch of the struggle against institutionalised discrimination even while her ex-husband, the late Madiba, President Nelson Mandela was incarcerated.

President Buhari, on behalf of the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, commiserated with the family of the deceased, the government and people of South Africa, urging them to be consoled by the knowledge that the late Winnie Mandela’s contributions to ending apartheid will not be forgotten.

According to him, she remained a pride not only to the African woman, but indeed all Africans.

The President prayed that God Almighty will comfort all those who mourn the departed and grant her soul eternal rest.

A cross section of women activists in Enugu, Nigeria, have also expressed shock over the demise of Winnie Mandela.

Some of the women who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the continent has lost a great fighter for African freedom.

A onetime UN Rapporteur on Human trafficking, Prof Joy Ezeilo described late Winnie as an `astute activist who fought the Apartheid Government to a standstill’ under the African National Congress (ANC) banner.

Ezeilo, who is also the Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, said that Winnie popularly known as Mama Afrika, held forte all through the incarceration of late Nelson Mandela.

“She was a frontline feminist and Pan Africanist who led the emancipation struggle for black South Africans.

“The apartheid white minority never forgave her bravery and role in galvanizing the world to end apartheid.

“Fate dealt a blow and she never got the commendation she deserved as an extraordinary nationalist.

“This is a huge loss to Africa. May her warrior soul rest in perfect peace, Amen,’’ she prayed.

Mrs Joy Onyenso, Executive Director, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, said she was shocked over Winnie’s death.

“I feel so sad to learn of Winnie Mandela’s death. One of the things that I admire most about her is her sense of humour and resilience.

“Love her or judge her, we cannot take away the fact that she had been an embodiment of complexities and she rose gallantry above the situation to carve a niche for herself.

“We have indeed lost another historical figure. The story of South Africa cannot be told without mentioning Winnie Mandela,” she said.

Mandela was a trained social worker when she met her former late husband, Nelson.

They were married for 38 years but were separated for almost three decades of that time due to Mandela’s imprisonment.

They had two daughters together.