‘A great tree has fallen’, says Cyril Ramaphosa
The president describes Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as ‘one of the strongest women in our struggle who suffered immensely’ under the apartheid regime
As supporters sang and danced outside the Soweto home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Monday night‚ President Cyril Ramaphosa told the those gathered there that he and the ANC were mourning the death of the "mother of the nation". "We are sad that this tree has finally fallen. "We are mourning the death of the mother of our nation‚ who departed this afternoon‚" Ramaphosa said. "Many of our people just cannot believe she has departed; they were still glowing in her continued presence and life‚ particularly after she seemed to have gotten over the health challenges that she was going through." Madikizela-Mandela died at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg on Monday afternoon after a long illness that saw her hospitalised several times since January. She was 81. Ramaphosa‚ surrounded by security‚ spoke of how Madikizela-Mandela — who he described as "one of the strongest women in our struggle" — had "suffered immensely" under the apartheid regime. She had been banished to live in Brandfor...
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