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By Citizen Reporter

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She did not die, but multiplied – Malema and EFF remember Winnie Mandela

As a result of her a short illness, the struggle icon died at the age of 81 in April 2018.


Today marks the death anniversary of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who passed away in 2018 as a result of a short illness.

After visiting her gravesite at the Fourways Cemetery to pay tribute last year, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and his party commemorated the second anniversary of the icon’s death.

“We remember Mama Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela. She did not die, but multiplied,” Malema said on his Twitter account.

Madikizela-Mandela died at the age of 81, surrounded by family and loved ones, at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg. As a result of her illness, she had been in and out of the hospital.

She was born in Bizana in the Eastern Cape and later moved to Johannesburg to study social work. She met anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1975 and later married and had two children together with him. Their marriage was shortlived, as he was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Winnie was not deterred by his arrest and continued her contribution to the fight for the liberation of the people of South Africa.

Nelson was released in 1990, and the couple divorced in 1996, 37 years after their marriage.

Madikizela-Mandela later became a member of parliament after the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

The presidency of South Africa also paid tribute.

“Gone, but not forgotten. May your spirit live forever, Mama,” they said.

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