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JOHANNESBURG. – The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, yesterday visited the Mandela family home in Orlando, Soweto, to pay tribute to the late liberation struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and reiterate the African Union’s solidarity with the people of South Africa, as well as with the African National Congress, at this time of grief.
The AU chairperson signed a book of condolences.
This followed the communiqué he issued on April 2 following the announcement of the passing away of Madikizela-Mandela.
Mahamat described her as a “fearless campaigner who sacrificed much of her life for freedom in South Africa”.
“She never relented in her struggle or wavered in her commitment, despite imprisonment, banishment, and decades-long separation from her then husband Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment,” Mahamat said.
“Winnie Madikazela-Mandela paved the way for women in the struggle to end apartheid, and fought relentlessly for their rights and welfare in her country.”
In 2017, the African Union Commission awarded Madikizela-Mandela with a lifetime achievement award.
Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela’s widow Graca Machel‚ in a statement issued in her capacity as chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust‚ along with fellow chairpersons Judge Yvonne Mokgoro and Phuthuma Nhleko from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital‚ said they celebrated Madikizela-Mandela “as one of the women who stood when no one else would”.
“From the 1960s‚ until the end‚ you remained an activist and like many of us‚ a prisoner of hope‚ who believed in the realisation of the dream that is the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Inasfar as you challenged us and forced us to confront our bitter realities; we are thankful.
“Inasfar as you provided counsel to political leaders‚ making them see beyond limited party interest; we have been strengthened. Inasfar as you stood with those who remain marginalised even as we seek the new nationhood; you are our conscience‚“ the joint statement read.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Tuesday shared fond memories of his relationship with Madikizela-Mandela and the Mandela family – a story not widely known by the public, he said.
“I feel privileged to have known the late great Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and to have been close to the family,” the veteran IFP leader wrote on his party’s website on Tuesday.
“This closeness is evidenced in her own book, ‘491 Days’, in which she writes about the ANC’s instruction to me to fight the apartheid system from within. As she said, ‘ . . . that is what people do not know’.
Buthelezi said her death was a “terrible loss”, not just for her family, but for the entire country.
Tributes have been pouring in for the late struggle and liberation leader and President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national period of mourning until April 14.
Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral will be held in Orlando, Soweto on April 14. – AU Commission/News24/Herald Reporter.
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