Winnie must stake her claim fairly

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela wants Qunu. She claims that it's her property and her ex-husband, Nelson Mandela, was living there because of her generosity. This is the property she acquired while he was in jail and she does not understand why he gave it away.

I say she must go for it. There is a long history of dispossession in South Africa and women have borne the brunt of it.

If Winnie's case is solid, fair and truthful, she has a right to pursue it. But it would do her a lot of good to just focus on that and not make reckless utterances that her "divorce from the old man was a blessing in disguise".

We don't need to know that and the person to whom this must be directed is not here to speak for himself.

Her argument that Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, is not entitled to Qunu because she "owns the whole of Mozambique" is also infantile and mean-spirited. Surely the issue is not what Machel owns or doesn't own but the legality of Mandela's decision.

Winnie is an intriguing figure.

She represents all the conflicting attributes that make us human, the good and the bad. The same people who laud Madiba for being a symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation consistently evoke Winnie's past without looking at the entirety of her contribution.

They do not stop to wonder why many South Africans ululate and embrace her wherever she goes. Those South Africans are not stupid. They know all too well about the horrible chapters of her life - the vigilante football club, the recklessness of punishing enemies, the kidnapping and murder of Stompie Seipei and how she was directly responsible for and or complicit in these horrible events.

But they also know that when the apartheid police left destruction in their wake, Winnie was the first on the scene. They also know that when families were hungry in Soweto and their breadwinners were exiled or in jail, they could knock on her door and be fed whatever she had prepared for her own children.

Most importantly, they know the abuse - emotional, verbal and physical - that she and her daughters experienced at the hands of the apartheid police. She is so prominent that the assumption is that she was treated with respect by her racist captors.

Her husband was the most famous "terrorist", so it is silly to think they would afford her any respect.

Winnie was abused, tortured and scarred. Her children had to fend for themselves while their mother was subjected to untold horror.

This is a chapter that cannot just be erased or wished away.

It does not mean that her transgressions must be excused or swept under the carpet.

But I find the hypocrisy of the "forget the past, let's move on" brigade jaw-dropping. In their minds, forgiveness and reconciliation must be afforded only to some; Winnie's past cannot be forgiven.

This is the same crowd that does not want to have any conversations about history but is quite happy to talk about Winnie's.

Graça once told me she felt South Africa had not fully grasped what Winnie went through. She said the country owed Winnie the gift of gratitude. That's a lesson in dignity and generosity of spirit.

I was pleased when I saw them supporting each other at Mandela's funeral last year. Their dignity, generosity and grace were praiseworthy. It is most unbecoming of Winnie to be stooping so low and throwing venom at Graça. She must fight her case with dignity.