For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
Mam’ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is dead. She died on April 2, 2018 at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg. She was 81. South African President and other noted leaders pay their tribute to the country’s most notorious vocal champion of anti-apartheid, the South African government on Wednesday issued an order for a state funeral and 12-day mourning period.
While condolences pour in from around the world, among the heaps are scores of epitaphs that label the once dubbed Mother of South Africa, as a controversial figure, a revolutionary and other apartheid-era anti-black narrative.
Winnie Mandela was more than this; better than this. Who was Winnie Mandela? Should she be remembered at all in the dialogue on South African history? Should the controversies, numerous and ongoing critics of her persona, eclipse what she gave South Africa, and indeed what she gave the world: a freed Nelson Mandela.
If Winnie Makidizela-Mandela is to be remembered, or honored, it is for drawing the world’s attention to the continued incarceration of her husband, Nelson Mandela.
She cried “Free Nelson Mandela” for 27 years.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a giant in a white man’s world, in Apartheid South Africa. However, narratives about her have aspired to bury her importance and to the rest of the world anti-Winnie labels attempt to belittle what she did and what she stood for in the struggle to free her husband and South Africa from the shackles of the wretched Apartheid system.
Let us unpack some truths. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for life after being charged with treason; something about blowing up electrical installations blah blah blah. There were many prisoners on Robben Island. While African countries were being set free from the shackles of colonialism, there with scarcely little the western white countries were willing to do to a country ruled by the Dutch rulers.
Nelson Mandela and others spent 27 years on Robben Island, mostly muzzled on that maximum-security prison. An enemy of the state, conditions in this prison were grime and harsh.
It was the lone, persistent and loud cry of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela that brought to the forefront of the world’s attention.
In her battle-cry for the release of her husband and country from the Apartheid regime and her run-in with the authorities, Winnie was often silenced (not to be quoted, not to speak publicly and sometimes imprisoned). At one time she was banished to a predominantly white neighborhood. Of that time, she wrote:
“I am a living symbol of whatever is happening in the country,” she wrote in “Part of My Soul Went With Him,” a memoir published in 1984 and printed around the world. “I am a living symbol of the white man’s fear. I never realized how deeply embedded this fear is until I came to Brandfort.”
At other times, the authorities sentenced her to seclusion, where she could not be in the presence of more than three people. With such eye-brow raising orders, one wonders from where Apartheid South Africa developed these bizarre punishments. And always many of them included beatings.
Among the rulings of Apartheid South Africa, was that burial rites of black South Africans could only be conducted on Saturdays.
But Winnie’s voice became and remained the voice resounded at funerals, football games and other gatherings of black South Africans. When not at funerals, Winnie Mandela was in European or US cities keeping the name of Nelson Mandela in the news, making sure that no one forgets Nelson Mandela, the man on Robben Island.
At the same time, she encouraged her husband to hold on.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a strong woman.
The picture of Nelson Mandela walking hand in hand with Winnie through Soweto upon his release, was a heart-warming finally to a love story that had played on the world theatrical stage.
However, history robbed Winnie one more time: a ricocheting separated her again from the man of her dreams, robbing her of the State House as Mandela was elected the first Black President of the new South Africa.
Although Mandela moved on and married Graca Machel (wife of late Mozambican President Samora Machel, he gave Winnie a cabinet position. On her own, she retained her constituency and was parliamentarian and President of the ANC Women’s League.
When Nelson Mandela died in December 2013, I recall posting on my Facebook wall “Don’t forget Winnie.”
In April 2016, former SA President Jacob Zuma gave Winnie Madikizela-Mandela the Order of Luthuli, given for her contributions to the struggle for democracy. This is the highest honor.
On her dying, newly installed President Cyril Ramaphosa on the passing of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said:
It is with a profound sense of loss and deep sadness that we have learnt of the passing away of Mam’ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Even at the darkest moments of our struggle for liberation, Mam’ Winnie was an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free.
In the midst of repression, she was a voice of defiance and resistance. In the face of exploitation, she was a champion of justice and equality.
Throughout her life she made an everlasting contribution to the struggle through sacrifice and her unyielding determination. Her dedication to the plight of her people gained her the love and the respect of the nation.
For many years, she bore the brunt of the senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism and fortitude. Despite the hardships she faced, she never doubted that the struggle for freedom and democracy would succeed.
She remained throughout her life a tireless advocate for the dispossessed and the marginalised. She was a voice for the voiceless.
In the coming days, as we mourn the passing of this heroine of our struggle, let us reflect on her rich, remarkable and meaningful life.
Let us draw inspiration from the struggles that she fought and the dream of a better society to which she dedicated her life.
Today we have lost a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a comrade, a leader and an icon.
As South Africans we collectively pass our condolences to the Madikizela and Mandela families. Your loss is our loss as well.
May her soul rest in peace.
Thank you President Ramaphoso for declaring 12 days of mourning for this international icon, superstar champion who gave us the free Nelson Mandela, who fought in all manner of ways to secure the release of her husband.
Thank you President Ramaphosa for your government accusing late Madikizela-Mandela’s critics that are fast pushing an “apartheid-era narrative.”
