Anti-Apartheid Heroine, Winnie Mandela, Dies at 81

Matilda Omonaiye/

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela died today at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg ending a period of long illness.

She was 81.

Victor Dlamini, a spokesperson for the Mandela family confirmed in a media statement.

Born in Bizana in the Eastern Cape in 1936‚ Madikizela-Mandela moved to Johannesburg to study social work after matriculating.

In 1957, she met lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela and they married a year later and had two children together.

The marriage was short-lived‚ as he was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. Mandela was eventually released in 1990.

During Mandela’s time in prison‚ Madikizela-Mandela was not spared from the brutality of apartheid forces. She was placed under house arrest and at one time banished, along with her infant daughter Zindzi, to Brandfort, a town in the Free State. In 1969‚ Madikizela-Mandela became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act of 1967. She was detained for 18 months in solitary confinement in a condemned cell at Pretoria Central Prison before being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950.

The picture of her hand-in-hand with Mandela as he walked free from prison after 27 years, became one of the most recognisable symbols of the anti-apartheid struggle.

The Mandela family says it will release details of the memorial and funeral services once these have been finalised.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has described the death as a huge loss to Africa of a courageous woman.

The President in a statement describes Madikizela-Mandela as a “woman of uncommon determination, steadfastness and perseverance who held aloft the torch of the struggle against institutionalised discrimination even while her ex-husband, the late Madiba, President Nelson Mandela was incarcerated”.

The statement further says: “President Buhari, on behalf of the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, commiserated with the family of the deceased, the government and people of South Africa, urging them to be consoled by the knowledge that the late Winnie Mandela’s contributions to ending apartheid will not be forgotten.”

Archbishop Emeritus Tutu has also issued a statement saying, “May Mamu’ Winnie rest in peace and rise in glory.”

Tutu said Madikizela-Mandela refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings and banishment.

He and his wife Leah have sent their condolences to her daughters, grandchildren and extended family saying her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to Tutu and generations of activists.

Madikizela-Mandela will be remembered as the first Black Social Worker in South Africa, anti-apartheid advocate, former Leader of the African National Congress’ Women’s League, and member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

This story will be updated as more details emerge.

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