Winnie is the enduring symbol of the fight for freedom for South Africans in their own homeland and will eternally be associated with the anti- apartheid struggle.
But unlike several others, Winnie never said: apartheid is gone – our dead is done.
The courageous activist continued to the end, identifying with serious causes like the AIDS fight, and she was very vocal and very active, in her anti-xenophobic activities.
Winnie Shattered by Xenophobic Attacks – this was a 2015 banner headline in a South African publication, The Star.
Winnie literally lived a life of struggle, and not the kind associated with the African man in his quest for mere survival, but a struggle for the good of others – she was always committed to the cause of other people.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, upon his visit to her homestead the day after her passing announced that she would be given a ‘category 1 special official burial’ on April 14th.
It is not just for being late Nelson Mandela’s wife, (he had 3 in life). It is more for her untiring struggle to get the nation out of repression, and onto self – rule as they have it today. Currently flags are flying at half-mast in South Africa and at all diplomatic missions abroad.
WINNIE MADIKIZELA was the brilliant daughter of schoolteacher parents of the Xhosa tribe. She graduated in social work at the young age of 20, and was the first black social worker (man or woman) to work in a hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. And Winnie remained true to that area, she lived and died there; to be close to the people. It is probably at that hospital that her activism started. She said she saw clearly from the data, the effect of the segregation in medicare for blacks. There was very high infant mortality among blacks – indicative of their lack of access. Very quickly, she got involved in political causes.
Winnie was said to be a vivacious and charismatic lady. And very clear to the eye – Winnie was a stunning beauty. It was while waiting for a bus at a Soweto bus stop that Nelson Mandela first saw her. The lawyer Mandela was driving past when he stopped and approached her for a conversation from whence he secured a date for the following week with the beautiful lady. The rest, they say is history: not quite so in their case! Apartheid would ultimately claim their union; but in about 40 years of marriage, they did manage to have about 5 years together; that produced 2 daughters.
Madiba, Nelson Mandela was later to say he was sorry their children grew up without their guidance.
But Winnie, never really credited for her resourcefulness, was able to bring up and educate their children all alone.
This she did even under imprisonments and banishments.
People know Madiba spent 27 years in prison, not so many know Winnie was banished without approved visitors for 7 years, to a remote village in another state. She still found a way to ensure the home front was kept running without a hitch.
Shortly after they married, the ANC was driven underground, so even in their 5 years together, they were practically still apart, meeting illicitly until Madiba was finally arrested and tried in 1962.
Winnie, a mother of toddlers, attended every single day of his court trial, missing none. (Even in those court rooms, the public gallery had a whites – only section!). When he was sentenced to Robben Island, the authorities did everything to ensure difficulty in her visiting him. She was banned from using the trains. Economically, she was starved of funds so that she would not fly. She often had to drive the 1287.5 km journey. It is a good guest the apartheid administration had sought to break Mandela’s spirit and the struggle on that island prison, possibly kill him and erase his entire memory from reckoning. But one woman ensured that South Africa, including a generation born during the 28 years of his solitude never forgot him for a moment. She made sure all the world kept his name fresh and alive. She was untiring.
It was not until 1984 that Winnie was allowed a face to face visit with Madiba in prison after 22 years: such was the wickedness of the oppressors.
From the get–go, Winnie kept up the anti-apartheid struggle. She led a group of women protesters 1956. In 1969 she was jailed 13 months IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT! After that she was in and out of prison. Winnie was frequently beaten, constantly harassed, she was banned she was banished. Through it all, Winnie never lost her sense of purpose, or her defiance in the face of any injustice. Here is someone for whom the odds were doubly stacked: There was not only her black skin but also her female gender, as limiting factors.
She remained unshakeable, resolute and dogged. In 1976, black children were gunned down while protesting apartheid schooling. It is said Winnie was among the first to understand its significance. The killings sparked fresh crisis, and greater repression in all black townships. Winnie knew the struggle called for more drastic steps.
Probably it was then that her activism reached radicalism. She then embraced young activists. And she went on to influence Madiba, in prison, to do same. Peter Hain, a former Labour MP and Minister for Africa says Winnie made Madiba radical. (Hain’s biography, Mandela, his essential life, comes out in July).
In 1990, Mandela was released, apartheid also ended. But for Winnie, the end of apartheid marked the beginning of a string of legal and political troubles. Personal problems as well.
April 13, 1992, Mandela, announced their separation at a press conference, ‘for personal reasons’, He said “ my love for her remains undiminished”.
But when he divorced her in 1996 to marry Graca Machel, he cited affairs by Winnie while in prison, as grounds. And he left nothing at all for Winnie in his will.
Madiba did not also give honor to a frontline Nigerian musician who spent 15 years and 15 albums singing and performing as a freedom fighter.
Sunny Okosuns, who died 10 years ago, was never once invited to South Africa, even though he performed his ‘music with a message’ at nearly all awareness concerts and fundraisers; on the South African issue; all around the world.
Back to Winnie, she was a proud African woman; in all her dressing the ravishing beauty always made sure she had an element of her culture on her. It was not only in being a radical that she influenced Madiba, but the beautiful woman of style was also responsible for introducing Mandela to the man who gave him his signature style shirts. Sonwabile Ndama had long been designing for Winnie, before she introduced the two men.
After Mandela died in 2013, Winnie is credited as having been dogged in ensuring that his memory was kept alive. Winnie had a courteous relationship with Graca Machel, Mandela’s widow, and Graca had said before now: it’s 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.
May God bless Graca Machel. Adieu Winnie – African Woman Hero of the World.
07055547031 sms/whatsapp
