Historical Figures Codexery

Winnie Mandela

Mother of the Nation

Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela-Mandela was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who served as a Member of Parliament and deputy minister of arts and culture.[1][2] Her life combined heroic resistance against apartheid with later findings of human rights abuses by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[3][4]

Quick Facts

Born
26 September 1936
Died
2 April 2018
Field
Politics, anti-apartheid activism
Nationality
South African
Known for
  • Second wife of Nelson Mandela
  • anti-apartheid activist
  • 'Mother of the Nation'
  • convicted of theft and fraud

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Born in the village of Mbhongweni, Bizana, she was the fifth of nine children and both her parents were teachers.[5][6] In the mid-1980s, her security detail, the Mandela United Football Club, carried out kidnapping, torture, and murder.[3][7] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found her politically and morally accountable for the club's gross violations of human rights.[4] She was convicted of kidnapping in 1991 and of fraud and theft in 2003.[8][9]

She died at Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg on 2 April 2018 at age 81.[10] The apartheid state detained, tortured, and banned her, and she endured months in solitary confinement.[11][12] Between 1977 and 1985 she was forced to live in the town of Brandfort.[13]

What the cited sources add

A 2018 article by Morudu notes that Winnie Mandela was both a heroine and a villain, and that her association with the Mandela United Football Club marked her downfall.[14] The Guardian obituary by Beresford records that she was a rebel from an early age and describes a childhood fight where she used a weapon made from a tin and a nail.[15] The same obituary notes that she was a "remarkably effective and dedicated social worker"[15] A 2018 article by Du Preez states that between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s she was a stronger symbol of resistance than the ANC in exile.[16]

The same source observes that she lost the plot during only three or four years of the Mandela United Football Club period.[16]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Winnie Mandela. nndb.com; "Anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Mandela dies, aged 81", Sky News, 2 April 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Butcher, "Winnie Mandela given five-year jail sentence", The Telegraph, 25 April 2003; "Jacob Zuma set for presidency", Brandsouthafrica.com, 7 May 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Morudu, "Has truth become a casualty of Winnie's rejection of accountability?", Business Day, 13 April 2018; Pillay, "Five times Winnie Mandela has let us down", Mail & Guardian, 21 October 2014; Kraft, "S. Africa Black Group Disowns Winnie Mandela", Articles.latimes.com, 17 February 1989; Dlamini, "Isolating Madikizela-Mandela was not my decision alone' says Mufamadi", Times Live, 16 April 2018; kyle, "Statement by Mass Democratic Movement on Winnie Mandela", South African History Online, 22 February 2016; Morudu, "Has truth become a ca en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume Two, Chapter 6 (pp. 543–82): Special Investigation: Mandela United Football Club", 29 October 1998; Carlin, "Alive, well – and still determined to nail Winnie", The Independent, 7 December 1997; "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume Two, Chapter 6 (pp. 543–82): Special Investigation: Mandela United Football Club", 29 October 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Madikizela-Mandela profile. Sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 30 May 2011. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: French, "The Resurrected Winnie Mandela", Washingtonpost.com, 30 April 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cowell, "Winnie Mandela Jailed for Return to Soweto Home", The New York Times, 23 December 1985; Jacobs, "How do we write about Winnie's life sympathetically?", Mail & Guardian; Du Preez, "Winnie's death captured by populist politics", News24, 17 April 2018; Jacobs, "How do we write about Winnie's life sympathetically?", Mail & Guardian; Jacobs, "How do we write about Winnie's life sympathetically?", Mail & Guardian; Jacobs, "How do we write about Winnie's life sympathetically?", Mail & Guardian; Martin, "Winnie Mandela funeral: 30 years en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith, David, "Nelson and Winnie Mandela's marriage ended, but the bond was never broken", The Guardian, 6 December 2013; sahoboss, "Former member of the Mandela United Football Club, Katiza Cebekhulu appears before the TRC", South African History Online, 16 March 2011; Trewhela, "The moral problem of Winnie Mandela", Dailymaverick.co.za, 6 April 2018; Carlin, "Alive, well – and still determined to nail Winnie", The Independent, 7 December 1997; "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume Two, Chapter 6 (pp. 543–8 en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "ANC: We won't dump Winnie", Sunday Times, 27 April 2003; "Winnie Mandela resigns ANC posts", CNN, 25 April 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cowell, "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Is Dead at 81; Fought Apartheid", The New York Times, 2 April 2018; "Anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie Mandela dies, aged 81", Sky News, 2 April 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Beresford, "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela obituary", The Guardian, 2 April 2018; "Opinion – The conscience of a nation that has forgotten apartheid", The Mercury (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nomzamo Nobandla Winnifred Madikizela–Mandela", African National Congress; Pilling, "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, 1936-2018", Financial Times, 2 April 2018; Pilling, "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, 1936-2018", Financial Times, 2 April 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Winnie Mandela" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Exile in dust: Madikizela-Mandela left her mark on Brandfort", Sunday Times, 8 April 2018; "Opinion – The conscience of a nation that has forgotten apartheid", The Mercury (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Morudu, "Has truth become a casualty of Winnie's rejection of accountability?", Business Day, 13 April 2018. facts only, no text reused. businesslive.co.za
  15. Beresford, "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela obituary", The Guardian, 2 April 2018. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  16. Du Preez, "Winnie's death captured by populist politics", News24, 17 April 2018. facts only, no text reused. news24.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Winnie Mandela (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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