YOUNG WINNIE‘S LIBERATION VISION

One of South Africa's leading liberation icons, Winnie Mandela(1936-2018), died this week in 2018 (2 April). Mama Winnie's life was marked by her commitment to the struggle against the brutal apartheid system in her homeland.

She became an anti-apartheid activist early in her life, long before she met her future husband and liberation-struggle leader, Nelson Mandela. She continued her activism after marrying Mandela in 1958. A few months after the wedding, she helped organise the 1958 Johannesburg protest against the racist, so-called 'pass laws' that restricted the movement of Black people. She and dozens of other women were arrested and detained for about two weeks. The apartheid regime also fired her from her job as a social worker at a government hospital.

However, this did not break her resolve - rather, it strengthened it. Following Nelson's arrest in 1961 and subsequent imprisonment, Winnie remained a key figure in the liberation struggle and the campaign against the imprisonment of her husband and other political activists. This put her in the spotlight of the brutal apartheid 'security' system. The next three decades of Winnie's life would be characterised by harassment and frequent arrests at the hands of the regime.

Not one to be deterred, Mama Winnie marched on in her quest to free her people from the yoke of apartheid. In this undated video, a young Winne Mandela explains her vision for a liberated, future South Africa.

Credit: Chris Austin

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/winnie-madikizela-mandela-obituary