Ramaphosa‚ Malema recall Marikana at Mam'Winnie's funeral

It began to pour when Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s body was taken to Fourways Memorial Park for burial after an eventful funeral service at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

There is a superstition that if there is rain during the funeral‚ the departed is on her way to heaven.

The five-and-a-half-hour funeral programme at the stadium followed a sombre occasion when Madikizela-Mandela’s body left her home in Orlando West for the last time on Saturday morning accompanied by military police on motorcycles.

All the former presidents of South Africa were in attendance and so were the presidents of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso and of Namibia Hage Geingob.

The occasion saw President Cyril Ramaphosa and Economic Freedom Fighters Julius Malema addressing the issue of Marikana at the funeral service‚ where there seemed to be agreement that both must go together to address the widows of 34 men that were killed by police in August 2012.

Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini delivered a rousing speech to stadium filled to capacity‚ wherein she lashed out at all those who had withheld the truth about her mother while she was alive‚ only to come out after her death and say these were untruths.

During her life‚ there were people who maintained that Madikizela-Mandela was somehow involved in the murder of youth activist Stompie Seipei‚ despite no court making a finding to that effect.

“And this was also when we saw so many who had sat on the truth come out one by one‚ to say that they had known all along that these things that had been said about my mother were not true.

“And as each of them disavowed these lies‚ I had to ask myself: ‘Why had they sat on the truth and waited till my mother’s death to tell it?’

“It is so disappointing to see how they withheld their words during my mother’s lifetime‚ knowing very well what they would have meant to her.”

She said only they knew why they chose to share the truth with the world after she departed.

“I think their actions are actions of extreme cruelty‚ because they robbed my mother of her rightful legacy during her lifetime. It is little comfort to us that they have come out now‚” Mandela-Dlamini said‚ as the crowd urged her to speak.

Malema also delivered a moving tribute to Madikizela-Mandela who treated him as a son and was known for supporting him during his political troubles.

Malema said those who sold her out to the regime were in the stadium.

“Mama those who sold you out to the regime are here. They are crying the loudest more than all of us who cared for you‚” he said addressing the late icon.

Malema said the widows of Marikana were still in tears.

“What must we tell them ma. We together with you promised them a quiet visit. What should we tell them when the situation is like this.

“What about those who killed the husbands of Marikana widows for selfish profits. What do we do to them. Tell us Mama. Give us a sign.”

Ramaphosa seemed to reply to the question by Malema when he said he would travel with Malema to Marikana.

“Mama‚ you are gone now. We were still supposed to do a lot of things together. I am going to go to Marikana without you‚ but I will be guided by your spirit. I know that Julius will come with me so that we can heal the wounds of those in Marikana‚” Ramaphosa said.