FEATURES

The Indestructible Winnie Mandela

Patrick Laurence
12 March 2010

Patrick Laurence writes on a history of returning from the dead

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela may finally have brought her long and controversial political career to an ignominiously end by publicly attacking Nelson Mandela, her former husband and the founding president of South Africa's post-apartheid democracy.

Her attack is contained in an article published in the London Evening Standard and written by Nadira Naipaul, the wife of the distinguished novelist V S Naipaul, after interviewing Madikizela-Mandela in her Soweto home.

During the article Madikizela-Mandela, whose marriage to Nelson Mandela, ended in divorce in 1996, refers scathing to Mandela "letting down" the majority black population by agreeing to a deal during the settlement negotiations that did little or nothing to improve their position economically. In a particularly hurtful statement she describes "the name Mandela" as an albatross around the neck of her family.

But it would be unwise to assume that Madikizela-Mandela has inflicted irreparable damage on herself by her vituperative and unfair verbal assault on her former husband who, at the age of 91, is widely seen as South Africa's premier elder statesman.

Madikizela-Mandela may, of course, seek to escape responsibility for her contemptuous remarks about her Mandela by charging that Naipaul has either misquoted her or quoted her out of context.

Judging from the publication in The Star of the full text of the London Evening Standard article, Naidira probably tape-recorded her conversation with Madikizela-Mandela. In which case that manoeuvre to evade responsibility will be futile. Even so, Madikizela-Mandela may still emerged relatively unscathed, judging by her ability to recover from situations that would have left most people psychologically shattered and physically exhausted, or, to use boxing terminology, down and out for the count.

A brief survey of some of the occasions where Madikizela-Mandela was felled, only to rise phoenix-like and live to fight another day is in order.

In April 1985, shortly after she defied the then white government by violating an edict banishing her to Brandfort in the Free State and returned to Soweto, she declared for all the world to hear: "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces we will liberate (the) country." Her statement was widely interpreted as sanctioning the execution of alleged informers by putting a motorcar tyre filled with petrol around their necks and setting it alight.

Her statement exposed her to possible prosecution for incitement to violence by the government and risked sabotaging the campaign to win support in the white community by the African National Congress and its surrogate in South Africa, the United Democratic Front (UDF). But, barring censorious editorials in the press, and exhortations to the ANC and UDF to put their houses house in order, nothing happened.

Early in 1989 the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) as the UDF had briefly renamed itself, issued a statement distancing itself from Madikizela-Mandela and expressed outrage at the "reign of terror" which her bodyguards were conducting in Soweto, including the kidnapping of three young men and a 14-year-old boy known as Stompie, who was later found with his throat slit in Soweto.

An MDM statement, read out by Murphy Morobe, its publicity secretary, directly linked Madikizela-Mandela with Stompie's death. It asserted that if Stompie had not been abducted by Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards," he would have been alive today."

Jerry Richardson, the coach of the Mandela United football team, as Madikizela-Mandela's bodyguards were known, was later found guilty of murdering Stompie. Later still, at a special hearing of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997, Richards testified that he had taken Stompie from Madikizela's house in Soweto and killed him on her orders.

There were calls in some quarters for Madikizela-Mandela to be prosecuted for the murder of Stompie, but they came to nothing, perhaps because she was a high-ranking member of the ANC and the mother of two of Mandela's daughters.

Earlier in 1991 Madikizela-Mandela had been prosecuted for the kidnapping of the three young men and Stompie, found guilty of kidnapping and of being an accessory after the fact to the savage beating of the kidnap victims with a sjambok. She was sentence to imprisonment for six years. Her conviction was upheld by the Appeal Court but her prison sentence was rescinded and replace by a fine.

Many observers anticipated that her kidnapping conviction would be a serious impediment to her political career, particularly in view of the finding of the presiding judge: "She showed herself on a number of occasions to be a calm, composed, deliberate and unblushing liar." The observers who thought it was a fatal blow to her career prospects were wrong.

Though Madikizela-Mandela was ousted as president of the ANC Women's League soon after her kidnapping conviction in 1991, the set back was only temporary. She was re-elected as Women's League president in 1993 and again in 1997. In between these triumphs, in 1994 the newly inaugurated President Nelson Mandela appointed her as a deputy minister in his first post-liberation cabinet, only to dismiss her a few months later when she defied him by going on trip to West Africa without his permission.

In 2003 Madikizela-Mandela was in trouble again. She was charges with fraud and theft (as a result of her alleged abuse of her position as Women's League president). She was convicted on both counts, a development that led to her resigning from all her official positions, including her membership of parliament. In 2006 she was acquitted of theft on appeal, though her conviction on the frauds charges was upheld. Her acquittal on the theft charges marked the start of her resurgence as an eminent and persuasive member of ANC.

The first clear sign of her rise again, after her apparent withdrawal from the political arena, was her election to the national executive committee of the ANC at its conference in Polokwane in December 2007. To the surprise of many observers she topped the list of candidates election to the national executive council after the six most important officer bears were elected, starting with the ANC's new president Jacob Zuma.

The second signal that she was once again a prominent and influential member of the ANC was the fifth position assigned to her on the ANC's election list for the April 24 national and provincial elections last year. Her high positions triggered speculation that she might be appointed by Jacob Zuma to serve in his cabinet. She was not invited to do so

In recent weeks she implicitly criticised the Zuma administration and Zuma's leadership of the ANC by describing it as one characterised by manoeuvring for power and prestige rather than service to the nation. It is "not my ANC," she is reported to have said.

Coming on top of that, her fierce criticism of Mandela, who is known to have a close relationship with Zuma during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, may prompt Zuma to chastise her. It is not worth betting on, however.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter

Services

Subscribe to newsletters
News feeds


Share this article

Facebook Facebook Google Google Laaik.it Laaik.it
Yahoo! Yahoo! Digg Digg del.icio.us del.icio.us


 

Comments

If you come across comments that are injurious, defamatory, profane, off-topic or inappropriate; contain personal attacks or racist, sexist, homophobic, or other slurs, please report them and they will be removed.
 
 responses to this article

The Inconvenient Truth?
.... refers scathing to Mandela "letting down" the majority black population by agreeing to a deal during the settlement negotiations that did little or nothing to improve their position economically...

by Carl Wille on March 12 2010, 01:25
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie
It's good to see the queen of necklacing back in business. Necklacing could be part of the upcoming 2010 Soccer games as entertainment - It would be a great distraction to violence going on outside of the stadiums.

The process is . .more

by David Allinson on March 12 2010, 01:55
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

An ANC stalwart
Called a liar by the Supreme Court of Appeal, has a conviction for kidnapping, another for fraud and is a celebrity in the kleptocracy called the ANC:

This is what (BLACK) South Africans want

by SAM on March 12 2010, 06:25
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The Rise and Fall......
I find it so laughable that Tannie Wine-e sees the Mandela name as an "albatros" round her neck .... Question : How does an albatros look round a vulture's neck? Wine-e and Big J should start a new party : FOUWP. Standard party kit : Tyre rim specs (as . .more

by Minority Report on March 12 2010, 07:21
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@CarlWille
Please start saving and buying plastic containers so you can have something to store your water in after waiting in the long queues at the new public water pump near your house.

Also start practicing your hand out technique so you can beg for . .more

by DoorKnob on March 12 2010, 07:44
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The antipode of Mandela -- a "Long Walk to Shame!"
Thanks, Patrick, for summarising Winnie's degradation from "Mother of the Nation" to an icon of evil personifying the racial inversion of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", which must end in the Zimbabwe-like self-destruction of sub-Saharan . .more

by Siegfried Hannig on March 12 2010, 07:46
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie the Roach
After the nuclear holocaust, the only survivors will be cockroaches, Mad Bob and Winnie. Oh and Cliff Richard too.

by Burtfred on March 12 2010, 07:57
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Mandela
Why are you even bothering to write about this fetid hyena turd

by Dave on March 12 2010, 07:57
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Prisoner in her own right
Ironically Winnie Mandela is one of the few people not liberated twenty years ago. She is a prisoner of her name, her history, and the bitterness of old age.

by David Battaliou on March 12 2010, 08:03
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

TAKE IT BACK
the real deal breakers are the ANC GOVT who have effed over their own people, six love, by stealing the monies intended to uplift the poor, ongoing and with impunity. they are the disgrace, not Madiba. This has been ongoing at all levels of govt for 16 . .more

by mhlanganyelwa on March 12 2010, 08:10
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Interesting, but she's not entirely wrong - they do wheel out Madiba for any big cash cause
but that is more a poor reflection on the current ANC hierarchy than on an old man who served his country as best he could. Few politicians could honestly claim the same.

by WhaataPoosiam on March 12 2010, 08:25
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@nerf
Jy kan haar nie met n plank dood slaan nie.

by Koos on March 12 2010, 08:38
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie the invincible
All that Patrick Laurence has set out in his article was well known when Winnie achieved the highest number of votes at the ANC's recent congress. And it is a fact that Nelson Mandela almost unilaterally and apparently overnight deviated from the Freedom . .more

by Bonginkosi on March 12 2010, 08:41
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Prez
Its between this Bit-- and Fatboy for next Prez ------We are Fo Ked.

by George on March 12 2010, 08:48
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie's Position
I find it interesting and very relevant that a popular member of the ANC can condemn the negotiated settlement so forcefully. To become the most unequal country in the world a mere 15 years after the settlement is the clearest example of the betrayal of . .more

by Costa Gazi on March 12 2010, 08:51
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

A woman who needs the limelight and like Malema will say anything to get it
Mandela is one of few blacks who understands what is best for all the people of South Africa. I could name them on one hand, those that understand the big picture. None of them have any power and like the white people they sit and watch as ignorant power . .more

by They will never change on March 12 2010, 08:54
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Good to occasionally look back
As the ANC stumble from one crisis to the next, it is often useful for someone to go back and remind us of all the previous transgressions of members like Winnie. The fact that they are just slapped on the wrist and then soon welcomed back, as if nothing . .more

by Sad Days on March 12 2010, 09:03
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Shame on you Winnie
Attacking an old man who should be revered as a father of our nation and who demonstrates the power of forgiveness globally. If we left the country to you we would have death squads and thieving and corruption as your CV demonstrates.

by Disgrace on March 12 2010, 09:23
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Who?
Winnie who.......?

by Sean on March 12 2010, 10:02
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

If Mandela is the Albatros.....

Then Wine-ee is the poop on our shoulders delivered from the Ar^%$#se of the Bird.
The problem is that she really was never important in any of SA's history and only rose above the other domestic waarkas as she was married to Mandela.
Now . .more

by Fred on March 12 2010, 10:03
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

F***** Winnie
Winnie just another buffoon talking without thinking. Should have been locked up long time ago.

by ceasar on March 12 2010, 10:04
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Not sure why...

everyone thinks Mandela is such a saint...he was a terrorist that killed innocent people.
Sure after 27 years of rehab, he seemed like a nice old harmless guy that didnt want revenge on the whitees, but he then went on to hand power over to . .more

by Fred on March 12 2010, 10:27
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Indestructable Winnie Mandela
She should have been put in prison years ago for the murder of Stompie.

by Anonymous on March 12 2010, 10:50
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

winnie
You forget: she was found guilty on 87 charges of fraud! I think a lifestyle audit on her is very necessary. Who pays her to live the life she lives? When she was in vourt in 2003 she admitted that she needed more than R73,000 per month for her . .more

by John Logan on March 12 2010, 10:56
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Costa Gazi
"I won't brag that half the PAC denounced the negotiations almost two decades ago."
Wot, all six of you?

by Green Gerkin on March 12 2010, 11:05
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie is right
there shouldn't have any conditions to handing the country over to the majority, the should not be any condition.

Land and resources were always for the South African people Black and White, these resources need to be evenly spread to the . .more

by nolo on March 12 2010, 11:30
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Fred
I kinda agree with you. But remember, Mandela wanted Cyril Ramaphosa. How Mbeki weasled his way into power is not known.

by Truth on March 12 2010, 11:36
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

In one fell swoop, Winnie has destroyed the legacy she COUDL have left behind

At least she has done us the service of showing us the REAL Winnie, before she marched off to martyrdom

To call someone like Tutu a "cretin" is childish, and stupid! It serves no purpose!

The woman is not in control of her . .more

by on March 12 2010, 12:02
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Winnie
Winnie the Turd. Sounds more applicable.

by over the struggle on March 12 2010, 13:21
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Braai at Julius's
Party at Julius's house next Saturday,bring pictures of dead boers and horse manure for your favourite Terdertrepeneurs pool.All those who enjoy good boer made South African food, welcome.

by me on March 12 2010, 13:28
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@nolo
Pray tell, how do you propose to redistribute skill? Furthermore, I'm interested to know from which point would you like to start over?

PS. Nowhere in the world is anything evenly spread. You will find people who are not prepared to be diligent . .more

by balthy on March 12 2010, 14:57
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

UK Based Attempts to drive spikes into the ANC
The media would like to have us believe that The ANC is fragmented. The only way for the minorities to get their way is by attempting to cause a rift in the ANC. As soon as the ANC gets on top of the media's modus operandi the game will be over. In fact I . .more

by Sober view on March 12 2010, 15:05
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie
Winnie the bitter ex

by Eish she did it again on March 12 2010, 15:20
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Learn to make in on her own!
Oh, excuse me, darling! Did not realize that Winnie Madikazi has concern for the emotional, financial, and social welfare of Nelson.
So, much concern that in fact she has chosen not to relinquish his last name. She
had so much concern that after . .more

by Potso on March 12 2010, 15:26
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Queen Winnie
All heil our murderous insane and great surviver, the crooked queen Winnie of Afrozania!!!
Amandla!
A Looter Continua!
Awhetu!

by Injala Apera on March 12 2010, 17:41
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie would like all the whites to give all their money to the blacks then leave SA
Yes or No? It is not a silly idea as this is the only way they will get all the money. Hard work, accountability, meritocracy, education, responsible breeding, caring active parents, democracy, level playing fields - I would humbly suggest that Winnie . .more

by Sipho on March 12 2010, 23:30
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie...a humiliation why dont you tell the world about Saambou Bank..
remind the Nation of your fraud conviction, the massacre of a child Stompie Sepei.... if you have a dirty past with bloo dripping hands you cannot appear in public and trying to be a god of a nation, its not to say if you are surrounded by bodyguards and . .more

by scorpion on March 13 2010, 07:05
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie
She was obviously misquoted (or out of context, take your pick) and will be back as obnoxious as ever.

by Q on March 13 2010, 07:43
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Missing tape recorder.
"She showed herself on a number of occasions to be a calm, composed, deliberate and unblushing liar."
Be the judge right or wrong, Winnie has denied that the interview with Mrs Naipaul ever took place. I presume there was not a tape recording so . .more

by Alison. on March 13 2010, 14:38
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Q.
You don't get mis-quoted if you don't ope your mouth wide, in the company of strangers. She complaining of Nelson being taken advantage of, she will be the one who uses excuses like yours that she was mis-quoted. She is interestingly not denying saying . .more

by Potso on March 13 2010, 22:25
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Back from the dead,..
I am telling you that this malema is kin of stompie suppey,.. 'back from the dead' as part of this columns title is closer to the truth than most realize,..

by a seer on March 14 2010, 09:50
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Winnie's sentiments wrt to the bad deal made by Mandela for blacks,

makes one think Verwoerd may have been right after all. Kick all the whites out of the country and give these monkeys everything, and within a year the country will be a basket case, ready for colonisation by the Chinese.

They lack common . .more

by Oompah on March 14 2010, 17:57
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ nolo
Please explain to me how skills can be transferred ? By brain surgery or bank transfer? Judging you by your grammar and spelling, I think some skills were not correctly transferred.

by arnaud on March 14 2010, 23:04
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Back to what she knows...

The last time she practised hate speech on the whites in SA and resorted to "Wiolence"
it resulted in her being lauded and given oodles of money.
As her and the ANC have nothing to offer except history .....they have to resort to historical . .more

by Fred on March 15 2010, 09:13
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Monkey s
Please stop insulting monkey s and all animals!

by Gina on March 26 2010, 15:05
Find this comment inappropriate? Report it


Name
Subject
Comment