‘A hero for us, a fighter with us’: mourners say goodbye to Madikizela-Mandela
Thousands of mourners flocked to Soweto on Wednesday to pay tribute to struggle hero Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.Her grandson, Bambatha Mandela, described Winnie, who died on April 2 after a long illness, as "an extraordinary woman, a mother, a soldier, a fighter". "Even at 81, [she] was one person I thought would live forever," he said in an emotional tribute. The choice of Soweto’s 37,000-capacity Orlando stadium for both the memorial service and the funeral planned for Saturday was highly symbolic.Unlike many struggle-era leaders who moved from townships like Soweto to formerly white suburbs after apartheid fell, Madikizela-Mandela remained embedded in the community where she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in 1957."I don’t think I want to wake up alongside my enemies," Bambatha remembered his grandmother as saying.Sunshine broke through a dense cloud cover over Soweto during multi-faith prayers, while outside the stadium a motorcycle club sporting ANC colours arrived to pay their...
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