Tributes for Winnie Mandela

Various Midrand leaders joined the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and many South Africans in dedicating tributes to a struggle icon, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who died on 2 April at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg after a long illness.

Ramaphosa said it was with a profound sense of loss and deep sadness to learn of the passing away of Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

“Even at the darkest moments of our struggle for liberation, Mam’ Winnie was an abiding symbol of the desire of our people to be free. In the midst of repression, she was a voice of defiance and resistance. In the face of exploitation, she was a champion of justice and equality.”

Secretary of the ANC Greater Midrand Zone 15, Lekwane Phasha said Madikizela-Mandela was a very resilient leader who chose to remain in the country as a beacon of hope even when political parties were banned. He said she continued with the struggle and raised her children on her own when her husband Nelson Mandela was in prison.

“When there were issues of uprising she was the first to arrive and the last to leave. She did not get the recognition she deserved. She deserved better than what we have done for her as a nation.”

Phasha further said that the current leadership of the ANC needs to honour her spirit by making sure that her dreams for South Africa are achieved.

“Her dreams for the development of South Africa’s economy and distribution of land equally should be fulfilled. Education should remain top of the agenda for the current government.”

Chairperson for the DA Midrand constituency, Madeleine Hicklin recollected her last meaningful interaction with Madikizela-Mandela at Vilakazi Street after her aunt Esmé, wife of one of the Rivonia trialists, Denis Goldberg, passed away. She said Madikizela-Mandela and Esmé shared so much. “We both sported wet cheeks. Two women grieving about the passing of an unsung hero, another victim of the apartheid regime’s cruel separation of families.

“She enveloped me in her arms – as only a mother would. The bodyguards moved fast, like lightning, for fear of who I might have been, and what I could have done. She stopped them. With a glare that could have frozen water.

“Hamba kahle, mama. Go and have tea with Esmé. She, among others, has been waiting a long time.”

Leader of the EFF in Region A, Sepetlele Raseruthe said the organisation was hurt because the nation had lost the only relevant stalwart that was still alive. He said Madikizela-Mandela stood the test of time during the apartheid era and never went into exile but took the system head-on.

“She was married to the struggle, she never retreated. She was the one who supported the call for land distribution when it was unfashionable. She was our last hope. She fought among the people, lived with them and died in the community. We have no words to express the great loss.”

Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral will take place on 14 April.