Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela dies after long illness
Political parties pay tribute as President Cyril Ramaphosa says she was a voice of defiance and resistance
The “mother of the nation”, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, died on Monday afternoon, closing a chapter on an iconic life characterised by resistance and defiance. The anti-apartheid veteran unapologetically spoke truth to power, even when her own movement, the ANC, had lost its way. A larger than life figure, Madikizela-Mandela, who married Nelson Mandela in 1958, died at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg after a lengthy illness, a family spokesman said. While Madikizela-Mandela, 81, often courted controversy, her mammoth political contribution to the struggle against apartheid was hailed by political parties across the spectrum on Monday night. President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation that she had been a “voice of defiance and resistance” in the face of repression. “For many years, she bore the brunt of the senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism and fortitude. Despite the hardships she faced, she never doubted that the struggle for freedo...
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