Winnie, fond of African wears from different parts of the continent, seemed to resemble any ethnic group whose outfit she chose. Left, in Yoruba-style wear complete with gele (headwrap) & R. in a boubou & headwrap style fit for the outfit.
With Mandela, happier times after his release from jail. [All pictures curtesy Google Images]
Winnie was a passionate activist in her own right who took the case of the jailed Mandela to the world. She suffered privation and hardship, never succumbing to the temptation of selling out the Movement her husband went to jail for even though she had the opportunities.
In the end, after Mandela’s walk to freedom, cracks started showing in their marriage of three decades for reasons reportedly connected to the Movemet.
The freedom fighter did find love in his old age in the wife of fellow revolutionary, slain Samora Machel, Angola’s late president.
Despite their divorce and the charges levied against her for atrocities of those close to her described as her “enforcers”, including a murder by those men, Winnie held on to the support of the radical arm of the ANC to the end of her days because in her, they sa tireless fighter against apartheid and one whose all-out effort helped in no small way towards Mandela’s freedom.
Madikizela-Mandela, as she later chose to be known, was a woman of steel and conviction whose stern words to ANC leadership, Bishop Tutu … were well-known as her conclusion that they, including her former husband, “sold out” to whites.
The story of South Africa’s apartheid-era can never be complete without the story of the young beautiful woman whose met the young revolutionary lawyer with two women who already preceded her, and they fell in love but as she reportedly remarked, ANC was what she was married to.
She is survived by two children and grandchildren.
May Winnie’s fiery soul rest in peace.
MONDAY, APRIL 02, 2018. 3:35 P.M. [GMT]
April 6, 2018 at 3:40 am
May she rest in eternal peace
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April 6, 2018 at 10:55 am
A big “Amen”, bro.
Thanks,
TOLA.
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April 2, 2018 at 5:06 pm
Eja nla lo l’omi
May her indomitable, resilient, forthright, highly committed and noble soul continue its repose in eternity.
How sad!
Sent from my iPad
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April 2, 2018 at 7:38 pm
Thanks, Dear Sis.
Oh yes, a real humongous fish has left the body of water; a massive tree of iroko proportion has fallen.
Winnie was, in the words of her compatriots, the Mother of the Nation though not in the way such honors are either self-bestowed or by sycophants in Nigeria.
She never lost her focus during the three decades she waited for her man: travelling for three days to “enjoy” a one-hour visit, getting the words out there so that the world did not forget Mandela, and along with others in the party, ensuring that the ANC and even Bishop Tutu, sold out to the S.AFrican government a move she said gave the short end of the stick to blacks and poor South Africans.
No history of the apartheid era of S. Africa would be complete or correct without the leadership role of Winnie Mandela. She deserves a place in the pantheon of African freedom fighters.
She is survived by two daughters, grandchildren and others.
May her fiery soul find repose with the Lord.
My fond regards, Ma.
TOLA.
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