Winnie Madikizela-Mandela celebrated a milestone birthday in September 2016, and it’s hard to believe that this timelessly beautiful woman has turned 80.
A divisive figure in South Africa, Madikizela-Mandela is revered for being the ‘mother of the nation', but she's also been involved in a fair few controversies over the years.
Mam’ Winnie is nevertheless a towering, prominent figure in the history of SA, whose important role during the long struggle to end apartheid should not be understated or forgotten.
Thrust into the spotlight in the wake of Nelson Mandela’s life sentence, Madikizela-Mandela carried the heavy burden of continuing her husband’s legacy. And under the scrutinizing gaze of the ever-present public eye, both her victories and missteps have been there for all to see.
But there are some things about her that aren’t so well known …
1. Her mother, Nomathamsanqa Mzaidume (Gertrude), died when she was only nine years old.
Mama Winnie’s parents were both teachers. Her dad, Columbus, was a history teacher and headmaster, and her mother taught domestic science. After Gertrude’s death, the family was split up, with Winnie and her eight siblings all sent off to live with different relatives.
2. She was head girl in high school.
Madikizela-Mandela was born Nomzamo in a village in Pondoland in the Eastern Cape. She attended primary school in Bizana and matriculated at Shawbury High School, where she distinguished herself as a person with exceptional leadership qualities.
3. She lost a job she really needed because of her activism as a member of the ANC.
Winnie took a position at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto after she graduated from Jan Hofmeyer School of Social Work in Johannesburg, where she moved after high school. In doing so she became the first black medical social worker in the country. But she lost her job after she and thousands of other women were arrested in 1985, for demonstrating against the government’s pass laws. This was a significant financial setback, since she was the wage earner in the family.
4. Authorities outlawed traditional tribal dress she wore to Nelson Mandela’s treason trial.
Madikizela-Mandela and other female companions of the men on trial appeared at the courthouse in traditional tribal dress, hoping to inspire people and evoke a sense of militancy against the oppressive white government. Authorities went on to outlaw the dress, but she retaliated by defiantly continuing to wear the ANC’s gold, green, and black colours regardless.
5. All she had in her cell during 17 months of detention was a sanitary bucket, a plastic bottle with just enough water for about three glasses, and a mug.
Winnie spent most of her lengthy imprisonment in solitary confinement. She described this difficult time in her book, ‘Part of My Soul Went with Him’, where she wrote: “Those first few days are the worst in anyone’s life—that uncertainty, that insecurity. The whole thing is calculated to destroy you. You are not in touch with anybody. And in those days all I had in the cell was a sanitary bucket, a plastic bottle which could contain only about three glasses of water, and a mug. The days and nights became so long I found I was talking to myself. Your body becomes sore, because you are not used to sleeping on cement.”
6. She helped organise the Black Women’s Federation and the Black Parents’ Association.
The latter association was founded to assist people with medical and legal problems caused by the actions of police during the 1976 Soweto riot.
7. She used her contacts and training to provide much-needed assistance to the local black community while she was confined to the small Free State town of Brandfort.
Madikizela-Mandela helped the community to establish a nursery school, a soup kitchen for school children, and a mobile health unit. She also initiated self-help projects that ranged from growing vegetables, to knitting clothes, to sewing school uniforms.
8. She publicly interrupted a speech by former President Thabo Mbeki, whose regime she vocally criticised.
In a highly publicised incident, Winnie appeared at one of Mbeki’s rallies and interrupted his speech, appearing on stage as the crowd cheered her on. When she stooped to kiss his cheek, he raised his hand to push her away, knocking the hat off her head. To the crowd, however, it looked like he'd pushed her.
9. A newspaper in 1992 published a love letter she allegedly wrote to Dali Mpofu, with whom she's said to have had an affair.
It’s believed that Winnie was having an affair with Mpofu, a lawyer 30 years her junior, in the months before Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. She is said to have continued the affair after her husband left prison, and this affair is often cited as the reason for their divorce.
10. She has a great love for gardening.
Speaking at a dinner to celebrate Madikizela-Mandela’s 80th birthday, her daughter Zindzi shared some personal qualities and characteristics of her mother that not many people know about. Zindzi said Winnie loves shopping, gardening, and spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and also revealed that she's a bit of a hoarder.