Nelson Mandela walked out of prison hand-in-hand with Winnie - but two years later they separated

 
Winnie MANDELA
epa03978389 (FILE) A file picture dated 13 February 1990 of Former South African President Nelson Mandela (R) giving the clenched fist salute as he stands with his wife Winnie Mandela (L) during his 'Welcome Home Rally' in Soweto, South Africa. According
6 December 2013

When Nelson Mandela walked out of prison in February 1990, he did so hand-in-hand with his second wife Winnie.

But the couple separated two years later, ending any hope of rekindling their marriage after almost 27 years apart. Four years later, in 1996, an acrimonious divorce was played out in public as Mr Mandela was forced to take the stand in court.

“I was the loneliest man during the period I stayed with her,” he said, then aged 77. “Ever since I came back from prison, not once has the defendant ever entered our bedroom while I was awake.”

He told the Supreme Court in Johannesburg: “If the entire universe persuaded me to reconcile with the defendant I would not ... I am determined to get rid of the marriage.”

It had all begun so differently. They met in 1957, he a lawyer and activist, she a social worker in a Soweto hospital - the first black woman to hold such a post in the city.

They married in June 1958 - she was 21, 20 years her husband’s junior. Her father had objected that he was too old for her and too committed to politics.

But very quickly she saw little of him as he travelled the country incognito to stay beyond the grasp of the authorities. Two daughters arrived quickly, Zeni in 1958 and Zindzi in 1960. Zindzi was 18 months old when her father was first sent to Robben Island. Winnie was left to raise them singlehandedly, sending them to boarding school in Swaziland to keep them out of the front line, while she increasingly became the public face of the ANC and the anti-apartheid struggle.

Winnie found herself targeted by police. She was arrested in 1969 under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and spent 17 months in solitary confinement, during which time she was tortured. Several more jailings followed, then in 1977 she was forced to move to the Orange Free State and placed under house arrest after hundreds died in a Soweto student uprising.

As Mandela’s incarceration continued throughout the Eighties, she became known as the “Mother of the Nation”. But she endorsed brutal retaliation against those suspected of collaborating with the apartheid regime - including the murderous practise of “necklacing”. This involved setting fire to a petrol-drenched rubber tyre placed over the head of a suspect.

Meanwhile, the activities of her personal security guards, Mandela United Football Club, were gaining notoriety. In 1989, in the incident that will forever tarnish her reputation, a 14-year-old activist, Stompei Moketsi, was kidnapped by her guards and murdered.

In 1991 she was charged with Stompei’s assault and kidnapping. She was convicted but her six-year prison sentence was reduced to a fine on appeal.

The following year saw her separation from Mandela. Four years later he would tell the Supreme Court that it was her “brazen conduct” that caused him to end the marriage. He had been given a letter supposedly written by Winnie that confirmed his suspicions of her infidelity with a young ANC lawyer.

After their divorce she took the surname Madikizela-Mandela and has continued to pursue a political career. Despite their estrangement, she was First Lady of South Africa from Mandela’s election as President in 1994 until their marriage finally ended in 1996.

During this time he was forced to sack her from her cabinet post as deputy arts and culture minister in 1995 due to her unsavoury connections and radical outbursts.

Acknowledging she had “in the past played an important role in the struggle against apartheid”, Mandela said Winnie was being dismissed “in the interests of good government and to ensure the highest standards of discipline among leading officers in the government of national unity”.

But as Mandela grew frail, and despite him remarrying on his 80th birthday in 1998, Winnie remained in contact. She has visited him in hospital in hospital in Pretoria during his final illness.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in