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How Nelson Mandela betrayed us, says ex-wife Winnie
Nadira Naipaul08.03.10
My husband and I have just crossed Africa. On the final leg of our journey we had finally come to South Africa - a place that now went hand in hand with the name Mandela.
My husband had been reluctant to come here but then he had followed his instinct and it had brought us to the Soweto door of the mystifying Winnie Mandela, a much celebrated and reviled woman of our times.
Looking out at her garden, I wondered how long we would have to wait to see her. We were in a stronghold of sorts, with high enclosing walls and electronic gates which were controlled from inside a bunker-like guardhouse. There were tall muscular men dressed in black who casually appeared and disappeared.
In the late Eighties, Winnie's thuggish bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club, terrorised Soweto. Club "captain" was Jerry Richardson, who died in prison last year while serving life for the murder of Stompie Moeketsi, a 14-year-old who was kidnapped with three other boys and beaten in the home where we would soon sit, sipping coffee. Winnie was sentenced to six years for kidnap, which was reduced to a fine on appeal.
Members of the gang would later testify to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Winnie had ordered the torture, murder and kidnap of her own people, and even participated directly.
Winnie used to live, before she was famous, down one of the narrow, congested streets with small brick and iron sheet houses. Soweto is still a predominately black township: tourists come in buses to gawp at the streets linked to freedom, apartheid and Mandela.
Winnie now has an imposing fortress on the hill. The garden is full of trees and well-manicured shrubs. We walked straight into a small cluttered hallway. It was full of the man: Mandela. He was everywhere. Presents, portraits, honorary degrees and letters covering every empty space on the walls.
There was an air of expectancy as we entered. Our fixer had arranged this meeting with Winnie (or Mama Mandela, her township name) through her confidant and admirer. He is a young man in his early forties who is a well-known television presenter here and clearly an ardent devotee.
He sat us down and talked softly about her. The politics of his generation, he said, had been defined by this woman. Her courage, her fire and her sheer stubbornness had made them men. They saw how unafraid she was and the risks and humiliations she was willing to absorb. These humiliations had not ended with apartheid. She was discarded, demonised and betrayed, he said.
My nerves were playing up: my husband does not like to be kept waiting at the best of times. He is punctilious and has been known to walk away from a delayed meeting, leaving me to deal with the fallout.
It was at that moment she appeared, tall, carefully attired in soft grey, wearing her signature wig. She held Vidia's outstretched hand and asked him to sit next to her. She flashed a smile in my direction. The air was electrified by her presence.
I did what was expected of me. I asked her if she was happy with the way things had panned out in South Africa. Winnie looked at my husband. Did he wish for the truth? She had heard of him. He pursued the truth or the closest he could get to it.
No, she was not happy. And she had her reasons. "I kept the movement alive," she began. "You have been in the township. You have seen how bleak it still is. Well, it was here where we flung the first stone. It was here where we shed so much blood. Nothing could have been achieved without the sacrifice of the people. Black people."
She looked at Vidia expecting another question. He said nothing, but his dark hooded eyes shone and she carried on with her eyes firmly locked onto his face. "The ANC was in exile. The entire leadership was on the run or in jail. And there was no one to remind these people, black people, of the horror of their daily reality; when something so abnormal as apartheid becomes a daily reality. It was our reality. And four generations had lived with it - as non-people."
As she spoke, I looked at her thinking she was, at 73, as her reputation promised, quite extraordinary. The ANC had needed this passionate revolutionary. Without her, the fire would have been so easily extinguished and she had used everything and anything to stoke it. While some still refer to her as Mother of the Nation, she is decried by many because of her links to the Stompie murder and other violent crimes during the apartheid era, and a conviction for fraud.
"Were you not afraid?" I asked instinctively, but then I regretted this foolish query.
She looked towards my chair. Her grey glasses focused on my face. "Yes, I was afraid in the beginning. But then there is only so much they can do to you. After that it is only death. They can only kill you, and as you see, I am still here."
I knew that the apartheid enforcers had done everything in their power to break this woman. She had suffered every indignity a person could bear. They had picked her up in the night and placed her under house arrest in Brandfort, a border town in Orange Free State, 300 miles from Soweto. "It was exile," she said, "when everything else had failed."
At this remote outpost, where she spent nine years, she had recruited young men for the party. "Right under their noses," she said to Vidia, laughing with the memory of it. "The only worry or pain I had was for my daughters. Never really knowing what was happening to them. I feel they have really suffered in all this. Not me or Mandela," she said.
Her two young daughters had never quite understood what was really happening. Bad men went to prison. Their father was in prison but he was not bad. "That anguish was unbearable for me as a mother, not knowing how my children coped when they held me in long solitary confinement."
Zenani, now 51, and Zindzi, 50, remain very much in the background, having no wish to enter politics themselves, Winnie said. Nelson Mandela is no longer "accessible" to his daughters and they have to get through much red tape just to speak to their father, she told us.
Winnie brought up his name very casually, as if it was of no real value to her: not any more.
"This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family. You all must realise that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others, hundreds who languished in prison and died. Many unsung and unknown heroes of the struggle, and there were others in the leadership too, like poor Steve Biko, who died of the beatings, horribly all alone. Mandela did go to prison and he went in there as a burning young revolutionary. But look what came out," she said, looking to the writer. He said nothing but listened.
It is hard to knock a living legend. Only a wife, a lover or a mistress has that privilege. Only they are privy to the intimate inner man, I thought.
"Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much 'white'. It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded."
She was pained. Her uncreased brown face had lost the softness.
"I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel [Peace Prize in 1993] with his jailer [FW] de Klerk. Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart? He had to. The times dictated it, the world had changed, and our struggle was not a flash in the pan, it was bloody to say the least and we had given rivers of blood. I had kept it alive with every means at my disposal".
We could believe that. The world-famous images flashed before our eyes and I am sure hers. The burning tyres - Winnie endorsed the necklacing of collaborators in a speech in 1985 ("with our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country") - the stoning, the bullets, the terrible deaths of "informers". Her often bloodthirsty rhetoric has marred her reputation.
"Look at this Truth and Reconciliation charade. He should never have agreed to it." Again her anger was focused on Mandela. "What good does the truth do? How does it help anyone to know where and how their loved ones were killed or buried? That Bishop Tutu who turned it all into a religious circus came here," she said pointing to an empty chair in the distance.
"He had the cheek to tell me to appear. I told him a few home truths. I told him that he and his other like-minded cretins were only sitting here because of our struggle and ME. Because of the things I and people like me had done to get freedom."
Winnie did appear before the TRC in 1997, which in its report judged her to have been implicated in murders: "The commission finds Mandela herself was responsible for committing such gross violations of human rights."
When begged by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to admit that "things went horribly wrong" and apologise, Winnie finally said sorry to Stompie's mother and to the family of her former personal doctor whose killing she is alleged to have ordered after he refused to cover up Stompie's murder.
Someone brought in the coffee and we took the offered cups in silence.
"I am not alone. The people of Soweto are still with me. Look what they make him do. The great Mandela. He has no control or say any more. They put that huge statue of him right in the middle of the most affluent "white" area of Johannesburg. Not here where we spilled our blood and where it all started. Mandela is now a corporate foundation. He is wheeled out globally to collect the money and he is content doing that. The ANC have effectively sidelined him but they keep him as a figurehead for the sake of appearance."
The eyes behind the grey tinted glasses were fiery with anger. It was an economic betrayal, she was saying, nothing had changed for the blacks, except that apartheid had officially gone. As she spoke of betrayal she inadvertently looked at a portrait of Mandela.
I looked at Winnie. Maybe she did not know when to stop. Maybe that is the bane of a revolutionary: they gather such momentum that he or she can't stop. I saw that although her trials and tribulations had been recorded, the scars on the inner, most secret part of her spirit tormented her.
But for Winnie the deaths, the burning tyres around the necks of the informers and her own Faustian pacts perhaps made Mandela and his vaunted wisdom look like feeble compromises from a feeble man. No one could expect him to protect her or his children from his 27-year incarceration but now he was out he had wanted peace. He had longings, perhaps scars in the mind, fears and perhaps even wisdom that she could not match or return.
The rumour rife in South Africa was that she could not abide him or touch him during their two-year attempt to salvage the marriage after his release in 1990. It was all too sad. And though he had been prepared to forgive the past, his wife's affairs while he was in prison, it had not worked. They divorced in 1996, having spent only five of their 38 married years together. Her anger was a mighty liability and her defiance was too awful for words.
"I am not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do everything I did again if I had to. Everything." She paused.
I thought of the terrible shadow of the murder of Stompie. Winnie had flung the stone that had cracked the one-way mirror of apartheid. The "interrogators", the compromisers, were now all unmasked and for what?
"You know, sometimes I think we had not thought it all out. There was no planning from our side. How could we? We were badly educated and the leadership does not acknowledge that. Maybe we have to go back to the drawing board and see where it all went wrong."
This was Winnie the politician. This was the phoenix. Publicly, the ANC leadership, who made her a minister in the first post-apartheid government in 1994 and welcomed her back subsequently, distanced themselves from her amid allegations of corruption (in 2003, she was convicted of fraud and given a suspended prison sentence). But for the masses, she spoke their language and remains popular with those who feel their government hasn't done enough.
We could see why the ANC had needed this obdurate woman. She was bold and had an idea of her worth. She was the perfect mistress for the ANC in the bad times but then she became dangerous.
As we stood up to leave, we saw a photograph of a young Winnie looking wistfully into the camera. She was ravishingly beautiful and Mandela had sought her. But the battle was over. She had played her part. It was over. She had been sidelined and discarded, but since the freedom had not brought the promised dream for the vast black population, she would continue to play her hand in politics. Of that I was sure. She was still a woman who could reflect the dangerous part of a man's dream, whatever it may be.
"When I was born my mother was very disappointed. She wanted a son. I knew that from a very early age. So I was a tomboy. I wanted to be a doctor at some point and I was always bringing home strays from school. People who were too poor to pay fees or have food. My parents never rebuked me or told me that they were hard-pressed, too."
She lit up talking of her past and of early memories that had nothing to do with the struggle. And then she suddenly turned towards Vidia and said: "But when I am alone I cannot help but think of the past. The past is still alive in here. In my head." She pointed to the brain.
Was it all nothing but a great loss? I wanted to know. Part of me ached for her. As a woman I felt her great transgressions and the pain. I wanted to tell her that if I had been Mandela I would have forgiven her but I lacked the courage. What would Vidia say to me if I did?
He was saying goodbye. My eyes were filling. Instinctively she turned and looked into me and her eyes softened. She walked towards me and pulled me into her embrace. "I know what you want to say," she whispered into my ear, "and for that I am grateful."
Reader views (81)
Winnie Mandela is my hero just like Steve Biko, etc. she is the rock she is the "Che Guevara" of South African history Mama Africa i take a bow...the struggle continue.
Black Power
- Mpho, Pretoria, 19/03/2010 13:45
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The story of South Africa remains complex, the revelations by Winnie whether true of false adds to the comlexity of further defination of freedom in today's context of globalisation. The expectation of many South Africans was indeed economic emanciaption by end of Apathied but like any other country in the world poverty has remained a challenge to undo under the current systems. Mandela might had led negotaitions for a peaceful South Africa but the challenge of bread and butter issues were still going to haunt the new South Africa in today's context of things. Its easy to cast a stone on the negotiations but we need appreciate the peaceful environment those negotiations created. to further have a meaning to democracy, the current government should continue to work harder in delivery to most vulnerable communities. Any economist will tell you that 15 years is not enough to transfrom South Africa in a country a every South African expects no matter how ingennous any government comes in in today's global context of things.....
- Traceford, Gaborone, Botswana, 16/03/2010 12:28
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first of all wasn't poor stompie a snitch? Well you know what happens to snitches. She is a totally right. And far as the white folks go, there would have never been a problem if you hadn't showed up hundreds of years ago. Enough said.
- Tina, usa, 14/03/2010 05:19
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I'm sad to say that a black goverment is in power for a great many years now.. and there is very little to show for it. Corruption is all we are getting. IF Mandela did give the land to us blacks, this country would be in so much crap now Zim would look like a paradise.
Sorry to see that we do not have honest and good leaders that know how to GOVERN THE COUNTRY. We have corrupt leaders... and things seem to be worstening as JZ continues to be corrupt to keep himself in power.
- Richard, Mpho, 13/03/2010 16:33
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Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie denies giving critical interview, claiming 'he let us down' story in Evening Standard was 'fictitious' but the paper stands by story. The best lie is the truth, because you'll never get caught. ........time will reveal all, let us not judge, or form opinions until we know, not accepting this alleged interview written by a flawed Nobel Prize winner wife.
- Dr L Neville Roach-Lord, Sussex, 13/03/2010 16:08
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We can clearly see who hates Winnie the most.She has since denied giving this interview. I personally think she really made these statements, and I am in full agreement with what she has said. So are millions of us. Her statements have all of our support, and her denial as well. People need to understand the domestic politics to understand this situation as it unfolds.
- Thomas, Hwaseong, 13/03/2010 13:16
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when a woman pours her venom on her frustrations about her ex-husband, it is not proper for media to counter-CHECK this before publishing? There is something NOT adding up on this story! Where is the writer to shed light with concrete evidence that she really talked to Winnie?!
- Mndwamrombo, Mwakera Mwajefa, Mombasa, KENYA, 13/03/2010 13:14
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You have only to look north of the SA borders to see where the real fault lies, greedy politicians robbing the poor, keeping the majority in the dark so that the theft is easy. Aid organizations standing by doing nothing while the poor die.
- Henry, Morogoro, Tanzania, 12/03/2010 14:03
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Its very sad.... Not much has changed in South Africa, except that it The ANC is in power....And more white farmers are being killed than ever before... And, its difficult to get work if you re a pale male..black people, in general, are still unemployed and poor... BUT, every citizen has the vote, and with that comes power. If the majority insist on keeping the "struggle heroes" in all the top positions, they will NEVER have freedom and/or wealth. There are lots of very intelligent (black) economists, engineers, attornies etc out there. Please vote them into power, and let them run the country BEFORE we become another Zimbabwe... Apartheid was wrong!!! BUT GET PAST THAT.... Get rid of the corrupt Zuma's, Schaik s and Malema's and put proper leaders in their place before we become just another of Africa's 50 or so Banana republics.
"You will never improve the lot of the poor by bringing down the rich".... Uplift the poor by education, justice, high moral standards, good health care etc.
Its so sad to see the comments of some blacks sympathising with Winnie Mandela... leave the past in history books, and get on with improving SA's lot by putting decent people into the right positions in government, even if they re all black!! This is not a race problem... this is LOGIC
- Db, Knysna South Africa, 11/03/2010 14:12
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when are you South Africans going to stop expecting pity and things to be done for you?
if you want to be succesfull work hard, stop blaming and move on.
why does it sound like you all expected Nelson Mandela to be some kind of God he is not???? he did the best he could made mistakes in the way so what get over it! there are so many South Africans who come from nothing yet worked hard and created the best for themselves, am talking about people who came from porverty and most remote locations of the country
You all get a copy of "The dream Deffered"-Thabo Mbeki, by Mark Gevisser and stop this nonsense
some of the comments here are of the worst calibre am so embarrased by them coming from South Africans you sound like uneducated, uncivilised and ungrateful immature people who expect to be spoon fed in odder to be satisfied you deserved to have lived during the apartheid years!
- Letta, Cape Town, 11/03/2010 13:11
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Finally someone has the guts to tell the truth about the illusions that have been created by the white controlled media of this world. The First True Black President of South Africa was Thabo Mbeki he had the guts and the intelligence to face the white people hence they despised every drop of blood running through his veins. Its a fact Mandela is just an Icon an Icon Simple an Icon having offered absolutely nothing to black South Africans. if he united South Africa where is the unity now; where is the unity. Mbeki was bold enough to tackle bread and butter issues hence we now can talk about black millionaires in South Africa, we talk of young black people with confidence facing life head on thats what Mbeki left us with Confidence to believe in our selves that we as black South Africans have the potential and ability to do meaningful things with our lives.
- Big Ice, Johannesburg South Africa, 11/03/2010 13:05
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It's easy for you Dan London to measure her suffering and yet you are in London and a white Male. You don't know how much Winnie suffered you know nothing about how we leave and how Mandela betrayed us.Winie Mandela said what most of us wanted to say but never had the guts to do so. Mandela is a Traitor and sold us out big time. Should she have asked the ANC's permission for her to tell the thruth? Viva Winnie Madikizela Viva! Maybe it's Mandela who does not deserve to have his name carried by Winnie Madikizela.
- Zukiswa Nomwa, South Africa, Cape Town, 11/03/2010 12:57
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There are so many people whingeing here about how they were sold out and nothing has changed for the black people in South Africa. Fine so maybe Madiba negotiated a deal that didn't please everyone, but he did what it took to not sink SA's economy and stability into oblivion after apartheid ended. That aside, this happened 15 years ago now, if you lot are so miserable about the state of things, why the hell do you keep voting the same party that has let you down into power over and over? Clearly you fail to see the leaders in power now that you, the majority voted for, are synonymous with what the ANC has become - corrupt, self-enriching, egotistical and incapable of effective leadership. Stop blaming Mandela for your own shortcomings in failing to see the bigger picture and sitting around waiting for the world to come to you because you think you somehow deserve it. Time to move on with the rest of us, get off your butt and make a difference in your life - no one is going to do it for you. The ANC now is not the same organisation it was during apartheid, not even close.
- Cat, London, 11/03/2010 12:16
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Winnie is absolutely right. And I see white privilege has again won the day. Mandela a registered terrorist became a 'hero overnight' WHY?
Well because he sold out a lot of young men and women in exile. Especially the ones fit to be MK but not fit to be SANDF under his presidency. People need to put into perspective what Ma Winnie is saying here. Mandela, Tambo and Mbeki are the 3 wise men responsible for the deal that left us poor and our resources feeding white interest!
South Africa is not free, partly because of the compromise deal Mandela made also partly because of the ANC's lack of vision and selfishness of its leadership.
Am happy that Ma Winnie has broken the silence on this thorny issue and am shocked that again white South Africa is trying to determine who are (as the formerly oppressed) heroes are.
Mandela has really removed himself from our experience and his Houghton experience makes him refuse to acknowledge our suffering.
- Muafrika, Durban, Azania, South of Africa, 11/03/2010 07:59
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The Afrikaners were also liberated by the political struggle in South Africa. Their Calvinist views were challenged by the evil of the public executions Winnie instigated. The Afrikaners adjusted. In the end it was not evil that triumphed, but good. Ironically Winnie Mandela is not free. She is the prisoner of her own bitterness and unforgivingness. The struggle continues.
- David Battaliou, Exeter, United Kingdom, 11/03/2010 07:26
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I'd like to repeat what Nicolaas from Pretoria said:
"As a young (white) South African this is a hard piece to read, especially some of the comments afterwards. Not hard in the sense that I feel guilty, but that little progress has been made."
...
"I am here (to stay), I am African, and I am willing to work with you to make this country great again.
You fought for racial equality, now lets be equal."
- Elma, Johannesburg, South Africa, 10/03/2010 16:55
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After all is said and done, i wish to state for the records; Brothers and Sister look at Zimbabwe and promise the rest of Africa that you are going to end up like that, REALLY !
- Oreoluwa Olarinmoye, Ibadan, Nigeria, 10/03/2010 15:01
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White people - in their majority - are the ones who are emotional in defending Nelson Mandela. However, we know the truth. Mandela sold Black people out, and history tells no lie. He bulldozed us to embrace everything White people threw at us, without any reciprocity. Winnie, other than Mandela's two other wives, is more qualified than anybody to comment, and start the criticism of Mandela. She held knows him intimately; and Mandela has more blood in his hands than Winnie. Zuma has more blood in his hands than Winnie. Tokyo Sexwale has more blood in his hands; and of course Oppenheimer has more blood than everybody else other than the Nationalists leaders of yesteryear. As such, Black people in their majority will not be fooled by the smear campaign against Winnie. In war, there are casualties. So, let's take what she says within that context, that the Sunshine Clause Deal (negotiations for South Africa's future) was bad for Black people. We were cheated; and Mandela benefited personally as he sold out. We are sick of this that Mandela is a saint.
- Lloyd, Midrand, RSA, 10/03/2010 13:37
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I understand her rage towards Mandela, bt it doesn't take away the fact that she also failed us as black people.Mandela is now treated as a modeling doll for the ANC govt, and she did as much damage. Mandela couldn't bring himself to forgive her bt it remains unknown to all of us that if he was not locked up in Robin island would they have done things differently together.I applaud both of them for their participation to fight for freedom. We need to move forward, and start electing a govt with an education background not for what they did in struggle. It's now 15yrs and the poor is getting poorer and rich is more greedy atleast when i grew up in the townships during the apartheid era the streets of our townships were clean, our govt can't even manage that. For Mandela to portray as if he supports Zuma is a shame to what he stands for as a leader. Hence will remain to suffer from the stupidity of our leaders.
- Nthabeleng Makuane, Randfontein, South Africa, 10/03/2010 13:09
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Though there is some truth in what Winnie says about how Mandela was not the only one who fought against apartheid,he was chosen by the ANC as a whole to represent them.She also suffered because of the struggle we agree but it doesn't justify her wrongdoings.She hasn't done anything to uplift her own people,she has also failed black people even in her hometown.
To say that Mandela's actions have not done anything for the black community is hogwash.I come from the most rural province in South Africa and I have seen change happen in front of my eyes even though it has been slow.There are more black people in the coperate world than there were in 1995 when I was in grade 1.
We applaud uWinnie for her part in the struggle and she is a respected cadre but she sounds like a bitter ex.
- Gcobani, Grahamstown, South africa, 10/03/2010 11:12
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Over 40 million blacks vs. not even 5 million whites. There are white townships, white people living in old pigsties - so it is NOT ONLY blacks that is suffering. Our economy is not strong enough to support every damn person in SA, especially if the "culture" is to have 5 - 10 children! You people that's making it sound that only white people live in luxury are liars!!!!! There are so many whites that is NOT to be blamed for what happened in the past, but is shifted on our shoulders and we must live with it. Everything is manipulated to fit the corrupts stories and to keep them in power - no matter if it causes more hatred, murder and racism. To those that's living a happy life on another continent, you have NO idea what is going on in SA! And if you want to be gullible and dense, please keep on believing that everything is the white man's fault and that only whites are rich and "living the dream".
- Mary, SA, 10/03/2010 10:37
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How sad that the woman Tata Madiba fought the struggle with his good-hearted wife well so he thought can in term say such things is beyond me. Now the question is what sparked all of this so called revelations?! Winnie must now own up to these accusations. Yes South Africa’s government can do so much more for their people. BUT tarnishing Nelson Mandela’s legacy will serve no purpose to this. One thing she might have forgotten is that Nelson Mandela is a well respected and celebrated man. He cannot control how people exploit his name. Winnie might as well go change her surname if she has such strong feelings about her ex husband. Nelson Mandela fought for MY freedom, I am because he is. He stood for unity and if dining with your enemies in search of HOPE and PEACE for your people is what is needed then by all means. Very disappointed with Winnie. She’s seeking attention in wrong places just that Julius Malema. Funny how those we trust are quick to twist a dagger down our spines. Sad.
- Keratilwe, Pretoria, South Africa, 10/03/2010 10:19
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Well back to this apartheid bull. People should just let go of the past. Things should just be left to what they are today. Whether you believe it was right or not, today is today and that is all there is to it. I really don't want to get into the interview...I m not really a fan of the Mandela's...especially the father. My thoughts on that shall be kept limited to just this..."it is not about the ANC, its political leaders and the people in the struggle" it's about overcoming errors of the past!
- Aphiwe, JHB, SA, 10/03/2010 10:08
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My generation of African and black South Africans who were born in the late sixties were awakened consciously and politically by the activism of Winnie - Mother of the Nation - Mandela. Our leadership in the African liberation movements, Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe and Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, were already serving prison sentences on Robben Island Maxium Security Prison, on Robben Island, off the Cape Coast, when we were born.We knew about them, but could not see their faces because they were banned by the apartheid media. Winnie Mandela was there, fearless and confronting apartheid governments head on. It was through the woman Winnie, that we got to know Mandela, the man, who, together with Sobukwe, were taken away from us and kept in that hell-hole called Robben Island.
The world talks daily about the contributions that Mandela, the man did, but no one talks about the contributions and sacrifices Mandela, the woman, did for South Africa's liberation and freedom.
In my heart--and in my profession as an African South African historian of African history, arts, culture and heritage (tangible and intangible)--I cannot divorce and separate the commitment that both Winnie and Nelson made for me, my family, community, country, Africa and the world.
"We are Confident of the Triumph of Good Over Evil--Always"
- Bob Marley.
- Neo Lekgotla Laga Ramoupi, Phd Candidate: African History & Public History Howard University Washington Dc, Usa., Ga-Rankuwa Township, Pretoria, South Africa, 10/03/2010 10:05
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I am fed up of people blaming the next person for their misfortunes. Rather do something about it.
I am not rich was never born rich but i am trying to make the best out of my life.
Winnie is busy complaining about Mandela failing the people. but she has also failed the people of her home town. It is the most rural. When going to where she was born its gravel road. She is not from soweto...she also desserted her people for the joburg life. When you pointing fingers at another fperson dont forget that the other fingers are pointing right back at you.
People should be responsible for their own lives. Do not expect the gvt to do things for you, thats why God gave you the ability to work. Use it
- Patiswa Jwacu, Bizana, South Africa, 10/03/2010 10:00
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no wonder the ANC during Mbeki's leadership sidelined her, for some reason she doesnt seem to notice her shortfalls but is quick to point out other peoples. she needs councelling she has too much anger and hatred in her. She wanted Mandela to remain with her but couldnt bring her self to admitt her wrongs instead climbed the high horse hoping to be begged, saddly it didnt happen.
this is all just pathetic!
- Letta, Cape Town, 10/03/2010 09:26
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She is tired of living a lie. She is speaking from her heart and I admire her for that.
The West creates demi-gods for us and we swallow it hook line and sinker. It is time Africans freed themselves from these Western creations!
The ANC is not blameless and has continuously abused the name of Nelson Mandela in order to save itself as it goes from one crisis to another. What a shame!
Winnie is not the only person guilty of atrocities during the struggle, many comrades hands are dripping with blood but they were never hauled before the TRC.
The truth hurts!
- Mpho, Cape Town, South Africa, 10/03/2010 08:34
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I am a 22yr old black South African woman who doesn't remember a thing about apartheid. Yes I do read about it so I can know, but asking myself now if this is what an old woman like Winnie does how are we suppose to forgive and forget about the whole thing, how are we suppose to move on and do something for ourselves if we keep on blaming white people and looking back at the past...we as the youth, both black and white DO NOT want to be taken back to something we did not even experience, yes i feel for people who did. Right now those people are suppose to be teaching and mentoring us into business and not waste time preaching about the past.
I have got lots of white 4rends and I got a white old man who is mentoring me something which people like old Winnie are suppose to be doing not turnig us against white youth who had nothing to do with the past. Belaive me. we as youth want to do better, we do want to make our country a success, but how do we do that without having someone to look up to, how do we do business if we are suppose to be corrupt to succeed.
Winnie please stop your nonsense and start making a difference like the poor old man you blaming for everything.
- Zinathi, Pretoria, SA, 10/03/2010 08:17
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This is a case of who feels it, knows it. Mandela did nothing for Black people. Check our constitution, the longest clause secures property rights, who owns property in this country? Whites of course. His years in power brought no change to Black lives, instead he entrenched White priviledge. He did not suffer during apartheid only lost his freedom of movement, those who were with him in jail will tell you how he and some of his ANC comrades enjoyed priviledges there. The deal he made to get out of jail was not with the interests of his people at heart. He was tired and wanted out. He was never principled. Steve Biko and countless others died for us. Ike Mthimunye, Mlambo and many others who were the first people on Robben Island Prison and were imprisoned spent more time in jail yet they are not celebrated. This is because they stayed true to their convictions, they were and still are principled. Mandela SOLD OUT and that is a fact. Whites will rubbish Winnie for saying this because the truth hurts. I hope Black people will start looking at their circumstances and stop buying into the lie that is reconciliation in this country. Mandela is no hero, he gave in. With all the resources in this country millions of Blacks go to bed hungry, he says and does nothing, he is a joke. Winnie speaks the truth, it is our (Black people) reality. We are tired of being told that we can think it but we may not say it attitude in this country. Please play the ball not the person
- Nthabiseng Matlhobogoane, Soweto, South Africa, 10/03/2010 07:53
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To those who think they know whats going on in SA by reading one article, Your arrogance and assumptions are disgusting! Do you usually just eat what you get fed???
Winnie is corrupt and only intent on enriching herself, With a track history of corruption and abuse (necklace murders) its quite suprising to read these ignorant comments. She pretends to act in the best interests of blacks and even endorses people such as Julius Malema who claims to be fighting for the poor yet he lives in divine luxury! While she is living her luxurious lifestyle the supposed people she claims to have fought for in the struggle still have not seen any changes since the apartheid days ended.
Mandela is not perfect either,A hypocrite and a wolf in sheeps clothing is a perfect way to describe this woman!
Please do some research about a person before making a opinion of someone by what they say about themselves!
- Brent, JHB, South Africa, 10/03/2010 02:46
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He was finding ways for peaceful coexistence while she was spewing her vitriol. If she'd had her way, there would have been a civil war. Winnie is living proof of the notion that those who liberate should not govern.
- Michael Froelich, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10/03/2010 00:49
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shifting the blame and taking sides will not set the wheels of progression in motion, whether it is economically or elsewhere. As a teenager seeing adults bickering is embarrassing. Apartheid is over, educate us PLEASE!
- Cindy, South Africa, 09/03/2010 23:10
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What a cheap populist junk Comrade Winnie? Everytime we give you a chance you mess up - who do you think you are? Some of us, despite the sacrifices we have made as very young scholars - children, would never be forgiven by the party you continue to disgrace even when we have made only one mistake! Those who were not in those trenches, the peacetime heroes would fall for this populist junk, why don't you tell them what kind of a report did we receive as delegates in the Conference for a Democratic Future? Tell them why did we end up with the Harare Declaration? This is way before the release of Madiba - do not fool anyone painting a picture that says the liberation movement had no pressure from fellow African brothers? We do not want to go back there, where we would end up reminding you how ill - disciplined you were when you made statements which were contrary to the liberation movement's policies on the killing of civilians namely necklacing individuals!We joined this struggle when we were very young unlike you who only joined when you already had qualifications and a husband whom you are today insulting in the international media. We lost our education, we followed this movement and we did not as we still are not expecting any rewards, therefore you are not speaking on behalf of me and I hope this time the African National Congress would deal with this behaviour once and for all! Nelson Mandela is a recipient of the highest honour in the ANC - Isithwalandwe! Viva Madiba
- Themba Zweni, Bloemfontein, RSA, 09/03/2010 21:20
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How legitimate or authentic is this article, Ma Afrika we should not consume propaganda from the western media.
I hope thisis not another campaign to discredit our outstanding leaders like Winnie.
Why cant you back off from African affairs.
- Morathi, JHB SA, 09/03/2010 21:10
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Shame on you Winnie, are you trying to recover the limelight that you lost many years ago? Mama Graca has better respect than you. Move on!!!
- Zoe Whitley, Johannesburg South Africa, 09/03/2010 15:57
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She speaks the truth.
- Jonathan, Stockholm, Sweden, 09/03/2010 14:57
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So, what?
- M Budaza, eRhini, South Africa, 09/03/2010 14:54
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Winnie is a murderer and a thief. if she really cared about the poor people in SA she would not have been involved in corrupt goverment dealings.
To all you fools criticising Mandela- can you imagine what SA would be like if he had not negotiated a peaceful settlement? Just like every other country in Africa. There may be many poor Blacks in SA but they still enjoy the highest standard of living compared to any other African country. Time for you to stop blaming and make something of this place.
- Alan Lacy, JHB, South Africa, 09/03/2010 14:19
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As a young (white) South African this is a hard piece to read, especially some of the comments afterwards. Not hard in the sense that I feel guilty, but that little progress has been made.
To those Black South Africans who still choose to blame everything on Apartheid and white people... You blame us for your situation, and yet it is your goverment, that you elected (and re-elected) that would rather make themselves rich and who keeps breaking all their promises to you. You forgive your own people - who every day betrays you, but not me, for choices I never even made.
I’ve gone from being blamed for my forefathers mistakes, to being blamed for the current goverments mistakes. I am tired of being a scapegoat. Stop voting for people like Zuma and Malema. Who are crooks and immoral men.
I am here, I am African, and I am willing to work with you to make this country great again.
You fought for racial equality, now lets be equal.
- Nicolaas, Pretoria. South Africa, 09/03/2010 14:04
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"better to have a blind world thn a world that just sees hate"
- Someone, Bloemfontein South Africa, 09/03/2010 13:39
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Winnie was robbed and Nelson fall for the short-cut which amounted to Winnie on the aulter of betrayal. This was/is always the trait of colonialism Apathied and Slavery an agreeable Icon at the expense of accountability and justice. I too am disappointed with Mandela, not for his orange celebraty status but his ungratitude towards Winnie and the victims of poverty. Mandela was turned over. The perpetrators of Aparthied succeeded.
- Davy De Verteuil, Trinidad and Tobago, 09/03/2010 13:35
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I don't know who is the bigger idiot – Winnie or Nadira Naipaul?
- Jp, Cape Town, South Africa, 09/03/2010 13:28
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its a fact we all knew but were afraid to say. the only reason whites liked mandela was because he let them off the hook. black thought he was salvation little did they know. the TRC was bitter pill to swallow for many familys while the transgessor left laughing. without an economy there can be no real change, nothing much has change besidethe fact that we can now use the same toilets
- Tebogo Matlawa, joburg, 09/03/2010 13:26
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The real issue with South Africa today is that the economy is still white and not only that but the same people that were preaching forgiveness still are not ready to reconcile and share this economy, now how long should black South African's beg forgiveness from the same people who tortured and murdered them for years.
It's the greatest robbery ever pulled off but it is not unique to South Africa as the same ruling powers are in charge globally.
The apartheid criminals where not stripped of their wealth, their kids are still living lavish lives from the bloods of innocent black south africa who died and left nothing for the kids to live of.
The same South African whites today strongly believe that the country is following in zimbabwe's footsteps and will be the first to board planes to Australia should leaving the poor blacks to starve, the real South Africans are those who will remain well after the the white corporations have bailed, stuck without a plane ticket to a better life.
I personally do not predict doom for my country and i love this beautiful South African we have except for the sickening "super human" attitude of a minority.
Black people might have been quick to move on but they haven't forgiven.
- Kagiso, Johannesburg, South Africa, 09/03/2010 12:52
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We are still poor, we are still languishing in poverty and 'silent inequality' that is forever misquerading is BEE.We are worse off and its not getting better, white men rules and we have 'the emerging black diamonds' who are even more distant to black economic liberation but more into self enrichment...Yes, these are the workings of neo-liberalism...I respect you Mama Afrika..we will always love you...
- Fana, JHB, South Africa, 09/03/2010 12:43
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That reconciliation was achieved through Mr Mandela's vision and foresight is amazing. The blame that subsequent ANC governments under Mr Mbeki and now Mr Zuma have failed the majority of people of this country cannot be laid at the door of Mr Mandela. Rather Mrs Mandela, who has remained an active member of the ANC and in a government which has had an outright majority for the past 16 years deserves to ask herself some searching questions rather than pointing fingers at a man so significantly greater than herself.
- Graeme, Cape Town, South Africa, 09/03/2010 12:10
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Big ups to Winnie Mandela, sick of people making Mandela the only hero how many others went to prison with him, why are they not getting any recognition for what they have endured??? Winnie might have tortured one boy, how many grown men did Mandela kill not even whites but his own black people???
- Jennifer, Bloemfontein, 09/03/2010 11:49
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I agree with Winnie, nothing has changed for us black south Africans. We are still below the white man. with or without education, only some black companies succeed as the white man stands with all red tapes. What ever you've got as a black person in South Africa you have to be investigated. we are only left alone if live in a township as assumed suitable for a black man. Every crime committed it is assumed a black man did it. Now tell me where is freedom. I feel more sorry for a black man, it's more harder on them than us black woman.
- Thobie, Johannesburg, 09/03/2010 11:40
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The part about his kids not having access to him is disheartening. I don't care how much the world celebrates your birthday and how many statues u have, how can you do such a thing?? Mind you Madiba is very good friends with the Oppenheimers who make a killing from Africa(excuse the pun) they had countless regular dinners after his release.
- Dexter, Soweto, South Africa, 09/03/2010 11:37
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Whilst I believe she experienced apartheid first hand I don't believe she should continue to leave in the past. Had we followed her lead this nation would not be at peace. It's time the nation started feeling like all must be handed down to them. With the resources that are there at present one can try and achieve something out of life. We are starting to see bright stars who do not use their poverty as an excuse but, as a motivation to work harder. As Mandela would say "It's in our hands". People who live in the past must not be allowed to lead!
- Vonney, South Africa, 09/03/2010 11:34
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The myth that the ANC is, is crumbling down 20 years after all-race votes.
I feel for Mandela who is wheeled to rally support for the person he does not share many values with.He is not a polygamist. he is not a criminal suspect for money laundering , fraud and corruption. His interests are a public knowledge.He is not opposed to values Congress of the People (COPE)in South Africa stands for.He is not a tribalist.
- Dumisani, Johannesburg, South Africa, 09/03/2010 11:31
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Winnie has called a spade a spade, Mandela is a made-statesman, an act of intelligence, some false-flag deal, the imperial powers that want to dominate other nations made him, created him with all the glitz, for the purposes of PR, add hype, add lies, add some stupid Noble Peace Prize, and parade Mandela as the best African Leader. The majority of African people in South africa remain impoverished, the land remains in the hands of a bunch of few greedy and reckless minority, these few imperialists continue to loot the mineral wealth and vast natural resources of the country at the peril of the real owners, who are the majority African race. This world sucks, its so sickening that some stupid people still regard Mandela as a solace to Africa's real plight, hes regarded as an angel of some sort, what good has he done to warranty this kind of worship. We see hope in Malema, the sad story is the very same minority seeks to destroy and kill anyone who stands up to truth and justice.
- Mashati, johannesburg, south africa, 09/03/2010 11:10
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The in depth interview is a breath of fresh air to young South Africans like me who still believe that the negotiated settlement was only good to a few people. Like she says, a majority of whom are just a token lot. I must also say that one other thing that I have realized is that South African media because is still very much white-male-owned is never willing to conduct interviews with Winnie Mandela and hear what she thinks of the current situation in our politics - the very politics she fought really hard for. The SA media is still very much in euphoria with Mandela because nothing much really changed on their part even after that settlement. They still own the means. The SA media is generally unwilling to say anything that will put a stain in Mandela's name, but the media ussually jump when Winnie's name is in the mud, or when her children are implicated in something not pleasant. Since that day when Mandela left the Victor Verster prison he was to be owned by whites and be cherished by them more than by his very people. There is no denying that Mandela played his role in the South Africa that we live today, but he's still in jail by the very whites who brought him out. Today he is just a cash-cow for the foundation and a figure to shield the ANC when the current leadership feels. It's really sickening to see how during his 46664 concerts the people who are in the hierachy of it all are ussually not those he fought for. Maybe Mandela is real only to the outside.
- Rudzani Floyd Musekwa, Grahamstown, EC, South Africa, 09/03/2010 10:31
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This is the pot calling the kettle black! She has very little room to speak for herself. She's a convicted fraudster and thief!
- Sean, UK, 09/03/2010 10:28
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I must agree with Rocco. Nothing much has changed for the
black people here. Now ask yourself why? The black goverment has been in charge of the country for 15 years, but they are only interested in enriching themselves. Crime is out of control, education is in shambles and there is no service delivery to speak of.
Wait and see, South Africa is going the same way as Zimbabwe.
- Talita, ERMELO SOUTH AFRICA, 09/03/2010 10:03
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mandela has crucified us the blacks for the sake of Mandela foundation,look he is not even accessible to his children ,what a shame.
- Marumo, johannesburg, 09/03/2010 09:51
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This is a very well written, moving piece. As a white South African I am eternally grateful to Mandela for the smooth transition that was orchestrated. I think the TRC, in essence, is an admirable ideal and has been an inspiration across the world. However, as a psychotherapist, I wonder if enough was done to acknowledge the pain and the struggle of so many South Africans or whether we were all too quick to move into the 'rainbow nation' without sitting in the wound of our past long enough. Long enough to allow for genuine healing and transformation.
- Kerry, London, 09/03/2010 09:40
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I think Winnie Mandela is right!Mandela(Nelson) gave away too much,he was so intent on pleasing whites than helping blacks.How else can you judge a man who referred to P.W.Botha as a 'great man'?He offered blacks nothing but freedom to starve..no wonder the man is celebrated in the West!
- Ochanji, Nairobi, 09/03/2010 09:37
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"This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family~. Why does this woman still insist on keeping the name 'Mandela' when it is so abhorent to her? Is it because without that surname she's basically a 'nobody'? She's no longer married to Nelson Mandela so no longer needs to keep his name. Perhaps she needs the name Mandela to give herself credence."
You Obviously know nothing about Winnie or being a South African.
- Sakumzi, Johannesburg, ZA, 09/03/2010 09:36
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I get where she's coming from. Why is it that she is being asked to forgive and play nice? Jamie Bulger's mother isn't asked to forgive. She can rant and rave and undermine the entire criminal justice system and everyone understands and sympathises. Where's the difference?
It's not forgiveness that the oppressers want, it's a pardon. They want to forget their crimes and move on because they are too ashamed to face them.
That being said, those of us have been wronged by the white, male, heteronormative, middle class power structure of the world (99.9% of us) SHOULD forgive.
But Winnie reminds us that those in power have no right to demand that we do so.
- Rai, London UK, 09/03/2010 09:20
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Not much has changed for the majority of black people because the ANC government of 15 years has failed to educate them and give them skills. They have plundered the tax coffers for their own benefit and do not care about the poor.
Winnie is a disgrace to the Mandela name. She is also one of the "elite" who live in luxury at taxpayers expense.
- Tev, Cape Town, South Africa, 09/03/2010 09:16
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We have our own way to deal with our own problems. The TRC warded Tutu with Nobel and nothing for us on the grounds. Colonisers are still sipping whiskey and smoking cuban cigers while the majority of Africa is still in dismay. The truth about mass murder against Zulu by British Queen was not part of TRC but arrived as FDI who continue to reap off Africa.
Truth is to us Winnie and Zuma are still our strength and understand our anger in Township.
Winnie Nomzamo Mandela is our Mother.
- Mthunzi, Umlazi Township Durban;South Africa, 09/03/2010 08:59
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This woman has done incredible things for our demogracy. I respect her. Alot of us in South Africa do. I read somewhere that Nelson Mandela was a privilegd prisoner. They say he spent 18 years in Robben Island and the other 9 years in a house somewhere and people like Govan Mbeki actually spent 26 years in Robben Island.
Long Live The Spirit of Winnie Madikizela, Long Live!
Right now, Im waching a documentary called First Step To Freedom, very interesting. I recommend you also check a doccie called Behind The Rainbow.
- Jj Sesing, Johannesburg, South Africa, 09/03/2010 08:19
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The views of extremists such as Winnie are what stands in the way of true democracy in South Africa... How are we supposed to move forward as a country and look towards the future if so much emphasis is placed on the wrong doings of the past? There has bn much change in the country since 1994 and the picture that the person who wrote this article paints is grosely incorrect... Yes many still stay in townships however many live in Affluent "supposed White" areas and have very good jobs and all have the oppurtunity to make a better life for themselves by going to school and varsity.
Without the great Nelson Mandela, South Africa would be in the same shoes as Zimbabwe is today.
It takes a great man to unite a country with the a history of racial violence such as South Africa and he managed to do that peacefully. He is the true revolutionary, who was able to bring about change but also forgive those who did wrong in the past. It has been over 15 years of democracy and we are still dwelling on the past. That is the true tragedy!
- Steve, PE, South Africa, 09/03/2010 07:53
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While she has reason to feel that more recognition should be given to her for keeping the liberation movement going when most of the leaders where in exile or prison, one can't help but feel see the deep resentment she has for him- and mostly because history will remember him in a much different way to her. I have often heard this critisism of Nelson Mandela having 'sold out' the black population, but very seldom do I hear anybody offer a different/better solution to the settlement that was reached between the liberation forces and apartheid government. Today it is easy to find fault with his decisions- having 20 years of hindsight, but given the knife-edge senario that was the reality back then, could he have done much better? Is this critisism of him today fair? If he had not done things the way he did, I shudder at the possible alternative outcomes that could easily have taken place...
- Brett, Johannesburg, South Africa, 09/03/2010 07:19
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More than 50 years later, Sharpeville is still burning. The shootings that launched the apartheid struggle all that time ago haven't changed this place. Lets seperate the myth from the reality. Black South Africans are free on paper.
- Teboho Theoha, Vereeniging, South Africa, 09/03/2010 07:00
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"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." - Gandhi
Mandela did the right thing to reconcile, if we took Winnie's lead we would be at war to this day.
- Donald Jackson, Cape Town, South Africa, 09/03/2010 06:49
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for those that praise mandela and forget winnie mandela shame on you. for christ sake the men spent 27yrs in prison wat does he know about apthied only winnie mandela can tell you that in every detail and if you still stamp down on winnie mandela you need to watch a programme on bbc called mrs mandela , then you would know what she went through why she did the things she had to do while nelson the so called great was being treated like a king in prison and his wife fighting for freedom he sat there coz he knew his wife would fight and he was a coward.
- Chigumba, london, 09/03/2010 02:05
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I have so much respect for Winnie. She definitely kept the Mandela name in the limelight. Had it not been for her, Mandela would have been just another one of the many, many prisoners incarcerated on Robben Island. It makes me laugh how people who know nothing about the struggle gush about how amazing Nelson Mandela is. I am a South African and I agree with Everything Winnie said. Nelson Mandela is just a man, he is not the only one who suffered, in fact he did not suffer as much as others. People like Steve Biko who was hounded, caught, tortured and died a horrific death. Yet all those Mandela-fans in the West continue to go on about Nelson Mandela. Real, ordinary South Africans do indeed feel betrayed. Mandela in his 5 years in power did Nothing but allay the fears of the white people and the West - thats why he is a hero in their eyes. But for the blacks nothing changed, Mandela ignored the growing AIDS problems and is responsible for the mess we are in now. He allowed crime to escalate by abolishing the death penalty and doing nothing about restructuring the badly structered police force he inherited from the apartheid era. His biggest mistake was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is often and wrongly cited in the West as a success. People are very bitter that killers were allowed to stand and gloat about their crimes and yet walk away laughing. Nelson embraces Naomi Campbell, saying she is his honorary granddaughter, yet he barely sees his own daughters!
- Pauline, essex, uk, 09/03/2010 01:25
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After reading Ms. Mandela’s remarks I submit that the only albatross that is hung is that of her around the neck of Mr. Mandela. After 27 years in prison he emerged unbroken and embraced his enemy. He realized that the only way for South African to move forward was as one and if he could forgive, so too must they all, Ms. Mandela included. What Ms. Mandela seems to regret, and it’s not her part in the death of Stompie Moeketsi that she was convicted of, but never spent any time in prison; or being convicted of fraud in which again she spent no time in jail, but in the post apartheid South Africa she was not personally enriched for being in the majority. One only has to look around Soweto with its congested streets and small brick and iron sheet houses and then at Ms. Mandela’s fortress on the hill with its garden and well-manicured shrubs to realize she hasn’t done poorly at all.
- John Drake, London, 09/03/2010 00:14
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Winnie Mandela is a hero and a reminder of how women are maligned for refusing to play nice. Why isn't De Klerk, and the other sick tyrants who have kept the white power structure going by any means necessary, maligned? Sicko, biased world!
- Dawn, USA, 08/03/2010 22:25
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I visited South Africa in 1961 as a 16 year old Merchant Seaman. The Union Jack was flying over the nation then.
Black people were living in cardboard boxes and whatever bits of scrap metal they could find to protect themselves from the elements in shanty towns wherever space allowed. The women wandered about selling themselves and the men worked the ships in port all day just for the offal bin from the galley.
I had already seen impoverished parts of the world but I had never seen destitution like this, and under my flag. I was appalled, I have never forgotten it.
We may condemn apartheid and Verwoerd, but racial separation was a product of colonialism that was honed to perfection under the apartheid system.
We have a lot to answer for.
- W.Palmer, Vancouver, Canada, 08/03/2010 21:25
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Mandela languished in jail, while Winnie fought to keep his name alive. The man would be nothing but for her, as many of Mandela's other colleagues who did not have someone fighting for their name to perish. Other men were in prison for longer than Madiba, other men who fought as hard if not harder and endured the same if not more. Mrs Mandela certainly is not a nobody as much as the western press would love to discredit her. Nothing but dirty politics played the part in her demise. The ANC knew she was powerful beyond measure and had to uproot her at any cost, and the West knew she could start a bloody revolution at the click of a button and pushed for her name to be tarnished. Which revolution has seen bloodless hands? How many people have been killed at the hands of the West, but dirty politics spins a different tale!
- Nyasha Samuriwo, London, UK, 08/03/2010 21:22
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Winnie Mandela appears to have less blood on her hands than most of leaders worldwide. Nelson Mandela has not changed anything for Blacks in SA it seems. No wonder Whites have tried to stop her: A TRUE revolutionary she is.
- Paquita, London, UK, 08/03/2010 16:45
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Winnie had only one point that she kept the struggle going on while Nelson was in prison. But atrocities were committed on both sides in the struggle. And it was right that reconciliation was the course they took. Although walking hand in hand with de Clerk was an abomination to many freedom figters. The alternative would have been a black despotic govt like Mugabes instead of some democracy. But perhaps that is in waiting now that Zuma is President. How many wives, how many children?
- Dhan Raj, Basildon, 08/03/2010 16:06
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The woman who has been written out of the story speaks and the most esteemed journalist of the last 50 years listens but reports nothing, not a word. The reader will do well to understand Mandela's failure to please her, all the more to appreciate his extraordinary achievement.
- Bloke, Lambeth, 08/03/2010 15:53
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>I am not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do >everything I did again if I had to. Everything.
She paid a small fine for participating in the brutal torture and murder of a small boy. And thats justice?
Full of remorse though isn't she.
Poor Stompie and poor South Africa now that it's in the blood soaked hands of people like her. Imagine exchanging one set of brital overlords for another set of brutal overlords but now with added crime and corruption.
Is that progress? That Zuma is a nasty bit of work too.
- Ethan, EUSSR - Referendum NOW!, 08/03/2010 15:27
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After spending six weeks touring throughout South Africa, as a black man, I must agree with Ms. Mandela. Not much has changed for black people there. Her disappointment and sadness are understandable, just like my own.
- Rocco, London, 08/03/2010 15:03
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~This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family~. Why does this woman still insist on keeping the name 'Mandela' when it is so abhorent to her? Is it because without that surname she's basically a 'nobody'? She's no longer married to Nelson Mandela so no longer needs to keep his name. Perhaps she needs the name Mandela to give herself credence.
- Ian Davies, London, UK, 08/03/2010 14:43
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Whatever she suffered, that cannot excuse kidnap, torture and murder.
Her ex-husband suffered much more - and found the strength to offer forgiveness and reconciliation. And that is why so many people around the world admire him.
- Dan, London, 08/03/2010 13:56
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Euugh!
- David Short, Tunis, Tunisia, 08/03/2010 12:56
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