Anti-apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Mandela dies at 81
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, died on Monday, triggering an outpouring of tributes to one of the country's defining and most divisive figures. Winnie, 81, died in a Johannesburg hospital, her family said, adding she had "fought valiantly against the Apartheid state" and that she was known "far and wide as the Mother of the Nation".
Winnie, "a defining symbol" of the battle against oppression
Winnie, who was married to Mandela for 38 years, played a high-profile role in the struggle to end white minority rule, but her place in history was stained by controversy and accusations of violence. Leading the tributes, anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu described her as "a defining symbol" of the battle against oppression. Tutu said that Winnie was an inspiration to her.
Winnie's courageous defiance was deeply inspirational: Tutu
"She (Winnie) refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings, and banishment," Tutu said. "Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists," she added. The statement put out by Winnie's family said that she passed away at the Netcare Milpark hospital in Johannesburg.
Winnie died after long illness at a Johannesburg hospital
"She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones," the family statement said. In the ruling African National Congress (ANC), head of policy Jeff Radebe described her as "an icon of the revolutionary struggle."
Nelson's imprisonment kept the couple apart during their marriage
Most of Winnie's marriage to Nelson was spent apart, with Nelson imprisoned for 27 years, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone and to keep alive his political dream under the repressive white minority regime. But her reputation came under damaging scrutiny in the twilight years of apartheid rule. In 1986, she was widely linked to "necklacing", when suspected traitors were burnt alive.
Winnie, Nelson separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996
In 1990, the world watched when Nelson Mandela finally walked out of prison, hand in hand with Winnie. The following year, she was convicted of kidnapping and assault over the killing of Stompie Moeketsi, a 14-year-old boy. However, in 1992, the Mandelas separated, and then divorced in 1996, after a legal wrangle that revealed she had had an affair with a young bodyguard.
Winnie re-emerged as a respected elder during her old age
During her old age, she re-emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of the late Mandela and of the long campaign against apartheid. Just last month, she was shown in television footage joking with Cyril Ramaphosa, the newly-appointed President who paid a courtesy call to her home in Soweto, the township where she lived for decades.
