Who Was Winnie Mandela?
Winnie Mandela embarked on a career of social work that led to her involvement in activism. She married African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela in 1958, though he was imprisoned for much of their four decades of marriage. Winnie became president of the ANC Women's League in 1993, and the following year she was elected to Parliament. However, her accomplishments were also tainted by convictions for kidnapping and fraud. She passed away on April 2, 2018, in Johannesburg‚ South Africa.
Confinement and Leadership
Nelson was routinely arrested for his activities and targeted by the government during his early days of marriage. He was eventually sentenced in 1964 to life imprisonment, leaving Winnie to raise their two small daughters, Zenani and Zindzi, on her own. Nonetheless, Winnie vowed to continue working to end apartheid; she was involved surreptitiously with the ANC and sent her children to boarding school in Swaziland to offer them a more peaceful upbringing.
Monitored by the government, Winnie was arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and spent more than a year in solitary confinement, where she was tortured. Upon her release, she continued her activism and was jailed several more times.
Following the Soweto 1976 uprisings, in which hundreds of students were killed, she was forced by the government to relocate to the border town of Brandfort and placed under house arrest. She described the experience as alienating and heart-wrenching, yet she continued to speak out, as in a 1981 statement to the BBC on Black South African economic might and its ability to overturn the system.
In 1985, after her home was firebombed, Winnie returned to Soweto and continued to criticize the regime, cementing her title of "Mother of the Nation." However, she also became known for endorsing deadly retaliation against Black citizens who collaborated with the apartheid regime. Additionally, her group of bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club, garnered a reputation for brutality. In 1989, a 14-year-old boy named Stompie Moeketsi was abducted by the club and later killed.
Freedom and Charges of Violence
Through a complex mix of domestic political maneuvering and international outrage, Nelson was freed in 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment. The years of separation and tremendous social turmoil had irrevocably damaged the Mandela marriage, however, and the two separated in 1992. Before that, Winnie was convicted of kidnapping and assaulting Moeketsi; after an appeal, her six-year sentence was ultimately reduced to a fine.
Even with her conviction, Winnie was elected president of the ANC's Women's League. Then, in 1994, Nelson won the presidential election, becoming South Africa's first Black president; Winnie was subsequently named deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology. However, due to affiliations and rhetoric seen as highly radical, she was ousted from her cabinet post by her husband in 1995. The couple divorced in 1996, having spent few years together out of almost four decades of marriage.
Winnie appeared before the nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 and was found responsible for "gross violations of human rights" in connection to the killings and tortures implemented by her bodyguards. While ANC leaders kept their political distance, Winnie still retained a grassroots following. She was re-elected to Parliament in 1999, only to be convicted of economic fraud in 2003. She quickly resigned from her post, though her conviction was later overturned.
In a 2010 Evening Standard interview, Winnie sharply criticized Archbishop Desmond Tutu and her ex-husband, disparaging Nelson's decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize with former South African President F.W. de Klerk. Winnie later denied making the statements.
In 2012, one year before her husband's death, the British press published an email composed by Winnie, in which she criticized the ANC for its general treatment of the Mandela clan.
Death and Legacy
Following extended hospital visits to treat a kidney infection, Winnie passed away on April 2, 2018, in Johannesburg.
A family spokesperson confirmed the death, saying, "The Mandela family is deeply grateful for the gift of her life and even as our hearts break at her passing‚ we urge all those who loved her to celebrate this most remarkable woman."
Despite the conflicts, Winnie is still widely revered for her role in ending South Africa's oppressive policies. Her story has been the subject of an opera, books and films, her character interpreted by many different actresses across numerous productions. She was played by actress Alfre Woodard in the 1987 television movie Mandela; by Sophie Okonedo in the TV movie Mrs. Mandela (2010); and by Jennifer Hudson in the 2011 film Winnie.
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