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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 3 april 2018

S. Africa to give state burial to

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA ing his years on Robben Is- by the imprisonment of her
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — land and helped give the husband, the perpetual
Nelson Mandela's ex-wife struggle for justice in South harassment of her family by
Winnie Madikizela-Mande- Africa one of its most rec- security forces, detentions,
la, an anti-apartheid activ- ognizable faces," the family bannings and banishment,"
ist in her own right whose said. Tutu said. "Her courageous
reputation was sullied by However, Madikizela-Man- defiance was deeply inspi-
scandal, has died. She was dela's political activism was rational to me, and to gen-
81. marred by her conviction erations of activists."
Madikizela-Mandela will be in 1991 for kidnapping and U.N. Secretary-General
honored by a state funeral assault, for which she was Antonio Guterres called
on April 14, preceded by fined. She faced these al- Madikizela-Mandela "a In this Dec. 10, 2013 file photo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela lis-
an official memorial service legations again during the leading figure at the fore- tens to speeches during the memorial service for her ex-hus-
band, former South African president Nelson Mandela at the
on April 11, said President 1997 hearings before the front of the fight against FNB Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg.
Cyril Ramaphosa after vis- Truth and Reconciliation apartheid in South Africa," Associated Press
iting her home in Johan- Commission, a panel that his spokesman Stephane
nesburg's Soweto township investigated apartheid-era Dujarric said. Guterres said in what is now Eastern Cape being jailed for two weeks
Monday evening. crimes. "she was a strong and fear- province and came to Jo- while pregnant for partici-
Ramaphosa described Ma- As a parliamentarian after less voice in the struggle hannesburg as the city's first pating in a women's protest
dikizela-Mandela in a tele- South Africa's first all-race for equal rights and will be black female social worker. of apartheid restrictions on
vised tribute as a "champi- elections, she was convict- remembered as a symbol Her research into the high blacks.
on of justice and equality" ed of fraud. of resistance," Dujarric told infant mortality rate in a The apartheid police later
and a "voice for the voice- Still, Madikizela-Mandela reporters at U.N. headquar- black township, which she harassed her, sometimes
less." remained a venerated fig- ters in New York. linked to poverty caused dragging her from bed at
The woman many South ure in the ruling African Na- Madikizela-Mandela had by racism, first sparked her night without giving her a
Africans have described as tional Congress, which has been in and out of hospital interest in politics. chance to make arrange-
the "Mother of the Nation" led South Africa since the since the start of the year, In 1957, she met Nelson ments for her daughters.
and a champion of the end of apartheid in 1994. according to her family. Mandela, an up-and-com- In 1977, she was banished
black majority, died "sur- She continued to tell the She had back surgery a ing lawyer and anti-apart- to a remote town, Brand-
rounded by her family and party "exactly what is year ago. heid activist 18 years her fort, where neighbors were
loved ones," according to wrong and what is right at After hearing of her death, senior, and they married a forbidden to speak to her.
a statement released by any time," said senior ANC some people gathered year later. She was banned from
Madikizela-Mandela's fam- leader Gwede Mantashe. Monday evening outside The first five turbulent years meeting with more than
ily. The ANC, which was the Madikizela-Mandela's of their marriage saw Man- one person at a time.
Madikizela-Mandela was main movement against home in the Soweto area dela going underground to The woman who returned
the second of Mandela's apartheid, had lost popu- of Johannesburg to sing build the armed struggle to Johannesburg in 1985
three wives, married to him larity in recent years in part tributes. She had attended against apartheid, and fi- was much harder, more
from 1958 to 1996. because of scandals linked Easter services in Soweto nally to prison in 1963, while ruthless and bellicose,
Mandela, who died in 2013, to former President Jacob over the long weekend. his wife gave birth to two branded by the cruelty of
was imprisoned through- Zuma, who resigned in Feb- The family said it will release daughters. apartheid and determined
out most of their marriage, ruary. details of her memorial and Madikizela-Mandela al- vengeance. In her book
and Madikizela-Mandela's Nobel laureate and former funeral services when they ways was aware of the "100 Years of Struggle: Man-
own activism against white archbishop Desmond Tutu, are finalized. danger of being in the dela's ANC," Heidi Holland
minority rule led to her be- a periodic critic of the rul- Madikizela-Mandela's story shadow of her husband's suggested that Madikize-
ing jailed for months and ing party, noted her pass- was told in biographies and all-encompassing person- la-Mandela was "perhaps
placed under house arrest ing by describing Madikiz- novels as well the Holly- ality. driven half-mad by secu-
for years. ela-Mandela as "a defining wood movie "Winnie," star- Even before they were sep- rity police harassment." In
"She kept the memory of symbol" of the fight against ring Oscar-winning actress arated by Nelson Mande- an infamous 1986 speech
her imprisoned husband apartheid. and singer Jennifer Hudson. la's long stay in prison, she she threatened "no more
Nelson Mandela alive dur- "She refused to be bowed The young Winnie grew up had become politicized, peaceful protests."q