IN PICTURES | The life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
02 April 2018 - 18:07
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Winnie Madikizela Mandela during Cyril Ramaphosa's first speech as the newly elected as the president of the ANC at 54th African National Congress national conference at the Nasrec Expo Centre on December 20, 2017 in Soweto.
Born in Bizana in the Eastern Cape in 1936‚ she moved to Johannesburg to study social work after matriculating. She met lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela (pictured) in 1957 and they were married a year later.
Her marriage life with Mandela was short-lived‚ as he was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason.
During Mandela’s time in prison‚ Madikizela-Mandela was not spared the reach of the apartheid forces. She was placed under house arrest and at one time banished to Brandfort‚ a town in the Free State.
Chris Hani with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
In 1969‚ Madikizela-Mandela became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the notorious Terrorism Act of 1967. She was detained for 18 months in solitary confinement in a condemned cell at Pretoria Central Prison before being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and family visiting husband Nelson Mandela at Victor Verster prison in 1988. Dullah Omar is on the left in a light coat. She was allowed to visit her husband in prison rarely, and they were always divided by a glass screen.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the Transkei with Dali Mpofu and other unidentified friends at an ANC rally in 1989.
ANC, PAC, IFP and Azapo leaders stand together at a peace rally in Bekkersdal in the early 1990s. On the right is Winnie Mandela and next to her is Tokyo Sexwale.
Oliver Tambo at Jan Smuts airport on December 13 1990. His wife, Adelaide, is on his left and Winnie Mandela is on his right. Son Dali is behind him
Former president Nelson Mandela and his then wife Winnie raise fists upon his release from Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990 in Paarl.
Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie play with their grandchild Bambata at their Soweto home 21 February 1990. The couple divorced in 1996‚ 37 years after their marriage.
In 1991‚ she was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault of Stompie Seipei‚ a young activist who was killed by a member of her bodyguards‚ the Mandela United Football Club. Madikizela-Mandela’s bodyguards had abducted Seipei‚ 14‚ in 1989‚ along with three other youths‚ from the home of Methodist minister Paul Verryn. Her six-year jail sentence was reduced to a fine and a two-year suspended sentence on appeal.
Winnie Mandelaat the funeral of OR Tambo in 1993.
Winnie Mandela at the opening of Parliament in 1994. She was appointed deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology in Mandela’s unity government. The next year, she was sacked for insubordination but kept her position as member of Parliament and head of the powerful Women’s League.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings. In its final report in 1998, the TRC ruled that Madikizela-Mandela was “politically and morally accountable for the gross violations of human rights committed by the Mandela United Football Club".
Nelson Mandela celebrates his 86th birthday with his wife Graca Machel, left, and ex -wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela,right, in his rural home town of Qunu on July18 2004. Machel, who married Mandela in 1998, paid tribute to her predecessor in the years after her union.
“It’s unfortunate that in our lives we don’t interact very easily but I want to state very clearly that Winnie is my hero. Winnie is someone I respect highly,” Machel once said.
Journalists surround Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as she leaves a Pretoria court on 5 July 2004. A judge scrapped the five-year jail sentence against her for theft and fraud in connection with bank loans she obtained for her employees.
Jacob Zuma dances at a campaign rally next to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on April 19, 2009 in Johannesburg during a rally ahead of national elections.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela receives a first copy of her new book "491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69" from her co-editors Sam Venter and Swati Dlamini, on August 6, 2013, in Johannesburg.
Winnie Madikizela–Mandela and British actor Idris Elba, who plays the role of Nelson Mandela in the movie "Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom", attend the movie's premiere in Johannesburg on November 3, 2013.
Nelson Mandela's grandson Zozuko Dlamini Mandela, second wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela and daughter Zindzi Mandela arrive at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg to attend the memorial service for former president Nelson Mandela on December 10, 2013.
Winnie Madikizela–Mandela speaks with Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the memorial service of former president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on December 10, 2013.
Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at Mthatha Airport on December 7, 2014 in Mthatha, South Africa.
Winnie Mandela after receiving a scarf with 491 pearls from her granddaughter, designer Swati Mandela.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's granddaughter, Zoleka Mandela receives the Order of Luthuli in silver on behalf of her grandmother during the National Orders Awards ceremony on April 28, 2016 in Pretoria.
ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela gets ANC President Jacob Zuma and his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa to hold hands before the start of the ANC Policy conference at Nasrec on 6 July 2017.
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