The Free State ANC has committed to assist Stompie Seipei’s destitute mother so she can attend Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral this week.
His 62-year-old mother, Mananki Joyce Seipei, who lives in an RDP house in Parys, said she didn’t believe the struggle veteran was behind her son’s death and would like to attend her funeral, but simply couldn’t afford to.
ANC Free State spokesperson Thabo Meeko pledged the party would reach out to the Seipei family this week.
“The ANC will assist the family of Stompie Seipei … I don’t think the ANC will have any issues with that. I will confirm with my seniors and I can guarantee you it will only be a matter of logistics and getting their contacts so we can dispatch someone to go and meet with the Seipei family,” he told The Citizen.
Seipei’s son was a child activist who died at 14 after being kidnapped and tortured by members of the infamous Mandela United Football Club. Seipei has told media she and Madikizela-Mandela made peace before Madikizela-Mandela died.
Meeko said yesterday the ANC would confront head-on any attempts to discredit Madikizela-Mandela’s legacy, including those who still believed she was responsible for the tragic incident.
“We want to have an opportunity to celebrate that life today and to derive important lessons and to educate South Africans about the history of the struggle movement, including the role that uMama played in it…
“Anything that seeks to hijack that struggle celebration of her life, we will confront head-on. The people in South Africa must know about the life of uMama and why she was involved in the struggle so they can continue where she left off. So anything, including that issue around Stompie, we are dismissing it,” Meeko said.
On Saturday, EFF leader Julius Malema said the ANC should hang its head in shame after it “deserted” Madikizela-Mandela when she was accused of killing Stompie. Malema said she played no role in Seipei’s death.
Apartheid security branch member Paul Erasmus said yesterday that the entire Mandela United Football Club was made up of government spies who used their proximity to Madikizela-Mandela to discredit her in the media.
Erasmus told eNCA after finding out about each other’s spying activities, members of the club started targeting and even killing each other.
Jerry Richardson, a key member, was eventually convicted of Stompie’s murder and served a life sentence at the Leeukop prison until he died in 2009. He admitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had been an apartheid spy.
– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za
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