Celebrities have been paying tribute to Winnie Mandela, who has died at the age of 81. The South African anti-apartheid campaigner passed away after a long illness, her assistant Zodwa Swane confirmed. She is said to have died peacefully after having ‘been in and out of hospital since the start of the year’, her family announced. And celebrities have flooded social media with tributes for the late campaigner, who was married to Nelson Mandela for nearly 40 years.
Rest in peace Mama Winnie. My heart is heavy right now. You lived a full and important life contributing to the liberation of a nation by force and ACTUAL ACTIVISM. You will never be forgotten. 👊🏾— Idris Elba (@idriselba) April 2, 2018
I cherish the times I spent with you, embracing me in your family & home. You were Woman of strength that endured so much hardship and sacrifice. Without you we would not know anything about Tata and his 27 years. You will remain in my heart!! R.I.P WINNIE MANDELA ♥️🙏🏾🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/2R9fg1t6dx— Naomi Campbell (@NaomiCampbell) April 2, 2018
Winnie Mandela has died. She was ferocious, controversial, and fearless. Rest in peace, to the mother of post-Apartheid South Africa. https://t.co/WWK3MBljPP pic.twitter.com/c26EYhQtqi— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 2, 2018
Winnie was born in September, 1936, in Mbongweni, South Africa. After finishing university, she became the first qualified social worker at Johannesburg’s Baragwanath Hospital. Soon after, she met Nelson Mandela at a bus stop in Soweto, when she was 22, and they tied the knot in the summer of 1958. However, he was later forced underground, after being pursued by apartheid authorities. Most of their marriage was spent apart, with her husband imprisoned for 27 years – with Winnie raising their two daughters alone while trying to keep his political dream alive. Nelson finally walked out of prison in 1990, with his wife firmly by his side. However, the couple separated just two years later, and divorced in 1996.
Throughout the height of apartheid, she remained at the forefront of the battle, urging others to carry on the fight ‘to the bitter end’ – and she later became known as the ‘Mother of the Nation’. She was arrested for the first time while protesting the pass system that restricted movements of black people in white-designated areas. Winnie’s activism and battle to end apartheid was also mired by controversy, and she was frequently linked to ‘necklacing’ – placing a petrol-soaked car tyre around the necks of traitors, and setting it alight. In 1991, she was convicted of kidnapping and assault over the killing of a 14-year-old boy, who was suspected of being a traitor. She vowed she had no part in the murders, when appearing before Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, and she was later given a fine. Speaking about her past, during a candid interview, she admitted her experiences had ‘hardened’ her.
‘The years of imprisonment hardened me,’ she said. Perhaps if you have been given a moment to hold back and wait for the next blow, your emotions wouldn’t be blunted as they have been in my case. ‘When it happens every day of your life, when that pain becomes a way of life, I no longer have the emotion of fear… there is no longer anything I can fear. ‘There is nothing the government has not done to me. There isn’t any pain I haven’t known.’
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