Winnie Mandela was born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela in Bizana, Transkei (now part of the Eastern Cape Province) on the 26th September 1936. She had seven siblings and her mother was a home economics teacher employed at a local school.
She has led a remarkable life, loved by many who refer to her as “The Mother of the Nation” but equally hated by others who believe she should be in prison. Despite the controversy surrounding her, there is no doubt whatsoever that Winnie Mandela is a captivating, charismatic and highly intelligent woman, as well as being quite beautiful dressed in her African style clothes.
Her life has been marked by many instances of separations from those she loved and harassment from the authorities. Her mother died when she was eight but Winnie went on to complete her school education at Shawbury in the Eastern Cape and later to receive a diploma in Social Work from the Jan Hofmeyer School in Johannesburg, Gauteng, a remarkable achievement in itself at a time of the oppression of women in South Africa, black women having extra difficulty in achieving their goals. Despite all these difficulties, Winnie Mandela managed to gain a Bachelor or Arts degree in International Relations at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Winnie Mandela’s political life began when she worked as a social worker at Baragwanath Hospital where she began to realize how unequal the treatment of Blacks was and witnessed the unnecessary deaths during birth of 10 out of every 1000 black babies. It was at this time that she met young members of the African National Congress and began to express her views against the Apartheid system. As a result Winnie was arrested and jailed for the first time in 1958. However she was not deterred and became even more involved in the encouragement of women in South Africa to defy the apartheid laws.
Winnie met Nelson Mandela, who at that time was a young lawyer, and they married in 1958 and had two daughters called Zinani and Zindzi. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1963 on Robben Island and during the time of his imprisonment Winnie continued in her outspoken opposition to white minority rule and became listed as a banned person which meant she was a virtual prisoner inside Soweto. This did not stop her from visiting Nelson in Prison, resulting each time in her arrest and imprisonment. At one stage she was imprisoned in Pretoria in solitary confinement for 18 months on death row in an effort to break her resolve.
After the 1976 Soweto uprising Winnie was jailed again for 6 months and a banning order was placed on her, forbidding her entrance to Soweto, instead she was placed under house arrest in Brandfort in the Free State where she had to endure insults and death threats. Her resolve remained with her and she defied the order to visit Soweto, each time receiving a further jail sentence.
Just before Nelson Mandela was released from Prison, a great deal of serious controversy surrounded Winnie with allegations of murder and many other forms of serious corruption. She was at Nelson Mandela’s side when he was released from prison and he supported her through all the rumours of violent actions. They were later divorced.
Whatever she might or might not have done, there is no doubt that Winnie Mandela is a unique and strong woman who spent her life fighting the injustices of apartheid.