South African Federation of Trade Unions mourns passing of Comrade Winnie Mandela
South African Federation of Trade Unions mourns passing of Comrade Winnie Mandela
by Zwelinzima Vavi
“She will always be an inspiration for future generator of women revolutionaries.”
On April 2, Winnie Mandela, the South African freedom fighter in the anti-apartheid struggle and the ‘Mother’ of the nation, died at 81 years old.
In an interview in 1987, Winnie said this:
“The years of imprisonment hardened me … 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.”
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) released the following statement after her passing.
Zwelinzima Vavi, SAFTU General Secretary, 2 March 2018
The South African Federation of Trade Unions lowers its flags in honor of Comrade Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, one of the great revolutionary icons of the struggle for freedom and democracy.
Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela-Mandela was a tireless fighter against apartheid. Although thrust into the spotlight partly as a result of her 38-year marriage to Nelson Mandela, she was always a struggle leader in her own right, who fearlessly confronted the apartheid regime.
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.
In 1969‚ she became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act of 1967 and later she was placed under house arrest for many years in Brandfort‚ a small town in the Free State.
After the first democratic election in 1994‚ Winnie Mandela became an MP and briefly served as deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology. She however remained an MP ever since.
She was a woman revolutionary, who was never prepared to be just Nelson’s wife but a fearless fighter, molded in the struggle against apartheid and a role model for women today. She will always be an inspiration for future generator of women revolutionaries.
At a time when so many leaders on the once proud African National Congress have been corrupted by the lure of personal wealth, it is more important then ever to remember the veterans of the past like Winnie Mandela who refused to bend under the yoke of the racist tyranny.
As shown by her experience of jail, persecution and trauma at the hands of the apartheid security apparatus and racist capitalists, she was made of a mold that will not easily be broken!
We have lost a gallant fighter in our people’s struggle of for their emancipation! Mama was no angel, just like everyone else, but she will always have a very special place in the hearts of millions. We love you mama!
This article previously appeared in The Dawn News.
A Tribute to Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela Mandela
by Ncedisa Mpemnyama
“How did they let their beloved ANC be captured by white monopoly capital?”
We are indeed in an interregnum. The old is dying and the new is not ready to emerge as the 'new' in the truest expression of that formulation. Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela Mandela is the throbbing nationalist sentiment that was thwarted and demonized in the African National Congress (ANC) project. This is the same project that eventually saw the breakaway of the Africanists like Robert Sobukwe in 1959 and the muzzling of the 'gang of eight' which was led by Tennyson Makiwane.
If one judges her life in combat, one sees that here was a leader who was unashamedly in the business of loving and defending the dignity of black people generally and women particularly. A strong leader who led by example, she trampled fiercely on sexist convention which made political work the preserve of black men who felt stripped of their manhood by the apartheid regime.
Our beloved mother's passing must make us meditate on this vacuum of ethical and servant leadership. Her passing must be a call to action, especially for the youth, to emulate and surpass her and her generation. It must be a call to reinvigorate the nationalist project inside the ANC and society generally. Her passing must mean a revisiting of what her, and her generation, missed and those must be corrected. This means we must get to understand, as Bob Marley said on the song Zimbabwe, "who are the real revolutionaries" in this post-1994 dispensation of nominal power for a ruling party that is mandated by a hungry, landless and equally powerless majority.
This quest for understanding and critical inquiry must also open up space for us to question how the genuine struggle for women's liberation failed while she and her generation had nominal power as part of the ANC Women's League. How did they let their beloved ANC be captured by white monopoly capital (externally and internally) such that its policies ended up keeping intact the hellish conditions that made their breasts burn with indignation in their youth. These are the very policies that harm black women the most, while them and their progeny were shielded from the rigors of black life in the townships.
These questions must not be asked for cheap populist point scoring but to uncover the ideological failures and shortcomings of the liberation movement in the ANC and outside the ANC with the black left (Black Consciousness Movement and PAC) which the Codesa negotiations frustrated to such an extent that they chose to opt out.
If, as Thomas Sankara said, "women hold the other half of the sky," it is logical to claim that Winnie and her comrades held a disproportionately larger chunk of the sky while the likes of her former husband took all the glory in an unfair and sexist reinforcing manner.
We thank you for all the sacrifices Mam'uNomzamo Madikizela. Lala ngoxolo mama wesizwe (Rest in peace mother of the nation).
Ncedisa Mpemnyama is the Black First Land First (BLF) Western Cape Chairperson.
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