(1936-2018)

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.

Early Life and Career

Born Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela on September 26, 1936, in Bizana, a rural village in the Transkei district of South Africa, Winnie eventually moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work. South Africa was under the system known as apartheid, where citizens of Indigenous African descent were subjected to a harsh caste system, while European descendants enjoyed much higher levels of wealth, health and social freedom.

Winnie completed her studies and, though receiving a scholarship to study in America, decided instead to work as the first Black medical social worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. A dedicated professional, she came to learn via her fieldwork of the deplorable state that many of her patients lived in.

In the mid-1950s, Winnie met attorney Nelson, who, at the time, was the leader of the African National Congress, an organization with the goal of ending South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation. The two married in June 1958, despite concerns from Winnie’s father over the couple’s age difference and Nelson’s steadfast political involvements. After the wedding, Winnie moved into Nelson’s home in Soweto. She became legally known thereafter as Winnie Madikizela-Mandel.

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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QUICK FACTS

• Name: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
• Birth Year: 1936
• Birth date: September 26, 1936
• Birth City: Bizana
• Birth Country: South Africa
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Winnie Mandela was the controversial wife of Nelson Mandela who spent her life in varying governmental roles.
• Industries
• Civil Rights
• World Politics
• Astrological Sign: Libra
• Schools
• University of the Witwatersrand
• Shawbury High School
• Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work
• Nacionalities
• South African
• Death Year: 2018
• Death date: April 2, 2018
• Death City: Johannesburg
• Death Country: South Africa

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Winnie Mandela Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/activists/winnie-mandela
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: August 20, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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QUOTES

• Even being in exile really is a constant reminder of the sickness of our society, and that we are virtually in prison, even in our country. Those who are outside prison walls are simply in a bigger prison because the Black man is virtually a prisoner, and all those other fellow whites and other groups that are oppressed as we are, we are all really in prison, in a bigger apartheid prison.