Winnie Mandela: spirit of black S. Africa She refuses to cower

Press, 17 January 1986, Page 13

Winnie Mandela: spirit of black S. Africa She refuses to cower

A solitary black woman, Mrs Nonzamo Winnie Mandela, has single-mind-edly challenged the might — and the legitimacy — of the South African State by refusing to obey an edict banishing her from her home and gagging her from talking publicly. In their bid to enforce a decree banishing her, police have arrested her twice in less than two weeks, once in her home in the sprawling black township of Soweto near Johannesburg, and once on a busy motorway while she was en route to her home in defiance of the edict. Before that, on the weekend before Christmas, they forcibly removed her from her Soweto home, bundled her into a car and took her to a hotel on the outskirts of Johannesburg in accordance with the decree. Mrs Mandela, aged 51, is often described as the wife of the jailed African National Congress leader, Mr Nelson Mandela. But she is a leader in her own right.

Her defiance of apartheid springs as much from her own strength of character and courage as from her status as the wife of a man who has become, for many young black people, a legend in his own lifetime. The daughter of Columbus Madikizela, a notable in the South African “homeland” of Transkei, Mrs Winnie Mandela was born in the small town of Bizana in 1934. Her teacher father later became Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in the internationally shunned Transkei regime. But Mrs Mandela took an altogether different path. Her leadership qualities were manifest in the early 1950 s when she became the first black medical social worker in South Africa, having enrolled at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work at the age of 16. Her emergence as a political activist in the fight

against apartheid came within three months of her marriage to Mandela in 1958: she was arrested for her role in a campaign against the hated pass laws, which control the movement of blacks from cradle to the grave.

She was acquitted of .charges under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1959. Two years later, in 1962, she was banned under the same law.

It was the first of many edicts restricting her freedom by confining her to a' magisterial district, denying her access to schools and universities and prohibiting her from attending meetings. These are defined as gatherings of more than two people.

Winnie Mandela was continuously restricted under successive banning orders from 1962 to 1975. Her husband was jailed in 1962, meaning that she was effectively left to cope on her own with her young twin daughters, Zindziwa and Zenani.

A lesser person would have broken under either of the burdens she had to carry: jailing of her husband for life, and restriction of her freedom and consequence loss of her job as a social worker.

But Winnie Mandela did not flinch or cower before the authorities: she was twice charged and imprisoned for short periods for contravening her banning order and, in 1969, detained under the draconian Terrorism Act and held in solitary confinement for 17 months.

Winnie is a strikingly beautiful 'woman not given to bitterness. But when she speaks of her banning a hardness enters her voice. “I have been banned and restricted since 1962,” she said in a recent interview. “Those were the best years of my life and they took them away.” When her banning order expired in 1975 she was a free woman, temporarily. But far from seeking a sanctuary from the political turmoil breaking out in South Africa, she plunged into the fray. By mid-1976 Soweto was aflame as black high school pupils raised the flag of revolt.

She helped to create the Black Women’s Federation and played a prominent role in the Black Parents’ Association. Official wrath came in the form of a new banning order more severe than any of her previous orders.

She was banished to the small Orange Free State town of Brandfort. But again she refused to grovel, to beg for permission to return to Soweto. For eight long years she lived in Brandfort, winning the respect of the local black community for her fortitude and the admiration of dozens of eminent visitors to South Africa. A stop at Brandfort to see Winnie was a compulsory item on the itineraries of visiting foreign leaders.

Then, in August last year, a turning point came when her home in the tiny black ghetto of Phatakahle was attacked and set alight by unknown assailants. Winnie Mandela blamed the police, alleging that they were no longer content to restrict her and now wanted to eliminate her physically.

She returned to her Soweto home in defiance of the decree and, in contravention of the order, began to address political meetings and news conferences. South Africa was treated

to a curious spectacle for nearly five months as the police passively watched Winnie Mandela flout the edict and publicly assure blacks that victory was at hand. Her personal charisma, her name and her international reputation caused them to hesitate to take action.

It was only after six whites were killed in a landmine explosion on December 15 that the Government assumed a conspicuously tough-minded stance. One of its first targets was Winnie Mandela, who was ordered and then thrown out of her Soweto home. She has since twice been arrested for defying the order and faces charges fr ntr it. Shf

lor contravening ae might be jailed if found guilty at her trial, which starts on January 22. At present Winnie Mandela is in an undisclosed “safe place,” having been released on bail pending her court appearance. But those who know her see her occupation of a safe place as a strategic retreat, a prelude before she renews her quest for freedom, a personal odyssey which has come to symbolise the struggle of a whole people for freedom. Copyright — London “Observer” service.

A leader in her own right

Her quest for freedom