Mayor pays tribute to Winnie Mandela

She was a selfless fighter, a feminist and a struggle icon who sacrificed the best years of her life to the emancipation of all black people in South African. We remember all the countless ways in which Mama Winnie’s years of activism altered the course of South Africa’s future and touched the lives of ordinary citizens.

During her golden years, she stood as a fountain of wisdom to all political leaders and remained anchored in the principles of freedom and equality. The City of Ekurhuleni was privileged to have developed a long-standing relationship with the late Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

During the 1980’s Mama Winnie helped set up self-defence units in various townships around the former East Rand, as a response to the sporadic political violence during the Apartheid era. At the dawn of our new democracy, Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela chose to cast her vote on 27 April 1994 at Phola Park in Thokoza, as a result of her active involvement with the community in the area.

In 2016, she was granted the highest honour of the City of Ekurhuleni, namely “The Freedom of the City Award”, for her contribution to our liberation struggle. As a City, we shall continue to preserve her legacy.

In September 2016, the City joined in the celebrations to host Mama Winnie’s 80th Birthday. Today, we offer condolences to the Mandela family, and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ekurhuleni.

The City will seek to continue Mama Winnie’s efforts towards alleviating youth unemployment and socio-economic transformation. “Lala ngoxolo Mama wethu”

The Executive Mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni.

Mayor Mzwandile Masina

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The Winnie Mandela I grew up to know in Soweto

The Winnie Madikizela-Mandela I grew up to know and admire as a young man growing up in Soweto during the turbulent years of apartheid was that of an enigma. Most of us knew her as the voice of hope for many South Africans who were confined to the dark and isolated world of apartheid in South Africa.

We all knew that Winnie Mandela was one of us because, just like the rest of us, she too was brutalised and violated by the same laws that affected the rest of us as well as her husband, Nelson Mandela, who was incarcerated on Robben Island away from his wife and children.

Winnie was forcefully isolated from her own people.

Her restrictive banishment orders kept her away from those who were in dire need of her skills as a qualified social worker. Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, she and her children were victimised by the state right up until the 90s, when her husband was finally released after almost 30 years behind bars. He emerged from the gates of Victor Verster Prison with her right next to him and their hands raised high up in the air as a sign of victory over their adversities.

My path crisscrossed Mama Winnie’s several times during her term as a surrogate mother to the country’s artistic fraternity. During this same period, much was said and written about her. She was demonized by the media and faced some damning issues.

Black South Africans in the rural villages and those in the townships and urban high rise buildings of our towns and cities, continued to hail her as a caring “Mother of the Nation”.

Meanwhile, no media focus was splashed on the front pages of the newspapers and television screens when the ‘Mother of the Nation’ stormed through the notorious Quirinale Hostel in Hillbrow to deal with the drug-induced hysteria of the late female Afro-pop star Brenda Fassie, who was threatening to expose the shenanigans of certain high profile individuals who, she claimed, were involved in various nefarious activities.

Neither was there anything written about her role as the surrogate mother of all South African musicians who openly defended the rights of all artists against the exploits of many music industry bosses in the 80s.

Nor was there anything mentioned of her involvement in resolving hundreds of domestic disputes in and around Soweto, and the time she spent in Thokoza as well as in the remote dusty and barren township of Brandfort in the Free State, where she nursed the sick and needy while the fear of detention loomed large over her.

Lala Ngo Xolo Nomzamo