a biography of winnie mandela

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

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• Independent - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: Tarnished leader of South Africa’s struggle to make apartheid history
• Swarthmore College - Listen: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Violence and the Intimacies of Gender in South African Politics
• Al Jazeera - Who was South Africa’s Winnie Mandela?
• Council on Social Work Education - Biography of Winnie Mandela
• South African History Online - Biography of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
• Nelson Mandela Foundation - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018)
• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (born September 26, 1936, Bizana, Pondoland district, Transkei [now in Eastern Cape], South Africa—died April 2, 2018, Johannesburg , South Africa) was a South African social worker and activist considered by many Black South Africans to be the “Mother of the Nation.” She was the second wife of Nelson Mandela , from whom she separated in 1992 after her questionable behaviour and unrestrained militancy alienated fellow anti-apartheid activists, including her husband.

The daughter of a history teacher, Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study pediatric social work . She met Mandela in 1956, became his devoted coworker, and married him in 1958. At the start of her husband’s long imprisonment (1962–90), Madikizela-Mandela was banned (severely restricted in travel, association, and speech) and for years underwent almost continual harassment by the South African government and its security forces; she spent 17 months in jail in 1969–70 and lived in internal exile from 1977 to 1985. During these years she did social and educational work and became a heroine of the anti-apartheid movement. Her reputation was seriously marred in 1988–89, however, when she was linked with the beating and kidnapping of four Black youths, one of whom was murdered by her chief bodyguard.

After Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Madikizela-Mandela initially shared in his political activities and trips abroad. In May 1991 she was sentenced to six years in prison upon her conviction for kidnapping, but the sentence was later reduced to a fine. She made a political comeback in 1993 with her election to the presidency of the African National Congress Women’s League, and in 1994 she was elected to Parliament and appointed deputy minister of arts, culture , science, and technology in South Africa’s first multiracial government, which was headed by her husband. Madikizela-Mandela continued to provoke controversy with her attacks on the government and her strident appeals to radical young Black followers, however, and in 1995 Mandela expelled her from his cabinet. She and Mandela had separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996.

Madikizela-Mandela was reelected to Parliament in 1999. She resigned in 2003, however, after she was convicted on charges of fraud and theft stemming from her involvement with fraudulently obtained bank loans, many of which benefited economically disadvantaged persons. Madikizela-Mandela was partially vindicated a year later when the conviction for theft was overturned because she had not recognized any personal gain from her actions.

In 2016 Madikizela-Mandela was recognized by the South African government with the award of the Silver Order of Luthuli for her contributions to the liberation struggle during the apartheid era. On April 2, 2018, she died at the age of 81 after a long illness. Her life and legacy were honoured with numerous memorial services throughout the country as well as a state funeral, held on April 14 at Orlando Stadium in Soweto , South Africa.

Winnie Mandela

(1936-2018)

Who Was Winnie Mandela?

Early life and career.

Born Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela on September 26, 1936, in Bizana, a rural village in the Transkei district of South Africa, Winnie eventually moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work. South Africa was under the system known as apartheid, where citizens of Indigenous African descent were subjected to a harsh caste system, while European descendants enjoyed much higher levels of wealth, health and social freedom.

Winnie completed her studies and, though receiving a scholarship to study in America, decided instead to work as the first Black medical social worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. A dedicated professional, she came to learn via her fieldwork of the deplorable state that many of her patients lived in.

In the mid-1950s, Winnie met attorney Nelson, who, at the time, was the leader of the African National Congress, an organization with the goal of ending South Africa's apartheid system of racial segregation. The two married in June 1958, despite concerns from Winnie's father over the couple's age difference and Nelson's steadfast political involvements. After the wedding, Winnie moved into Nelson's home in Soweto. She became legally known thereafter as Winnie Madikizela-Mandel.

Confinement and Leadership

Nelson was routinely arrested for his activities and targeted by the government during his early days of marriage. He was eventually sentenced in 1964 to life imprisonment, leaving Winnie to raise their two small daughters, Zenani and Zindzi, on her own. Nonetheless, Winnie vowed to continue working to end apartheid; she was involved surreptitiously with the ANC and sent her children to boarding school in Swaziland to offer them a more peaceful upbringing.

Monitored by the government, Winnie was arrested under the Suppression of Terrorism Act and spent more than a year in solitary confinement, where she was tortured. Upon her release, she continued her activism and was jailed several more times.

Following the Soweto 1976 uprisings, in which hundreds of students were killed, she was forced by the government to relocate to the border town of Brandfort and placed under house arrest. She described the experience as alienating and heart-wrenching, yet she continued to speak out, as in a 1981 statement to the BBC on Black South African economic might and its ability to overturn the system.

In 1985, after her home was firebombed, Winnie returned to Soweto and continued to criticize the regime, cementing her title of "Mother of the Nation." However, she also became known for endorsing deadly retaliation against Black citizens who collaborated with the apartheid regime. Additionally, her group of bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club, garnered a reputation for brutality. In 1989, a 14-year-old boy named Stompie Moeketsi was abducted by the club and later killed.

Freedom and Charges of Violence

Through a complex mix of domestic political maneuvering and international outrage, Nelson was freed in 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment. The years of separation and tremendous social turmoil had irrevocably damaged the Mandela marriage, however, and the two separated in 1992. Before that, Winnie was convicted of kidnapping and assaulting Moeketsi; after an appeal, her six-year sentence was ultimately reduced to a fine.

Even with her conviction, Winnie was elected president of the ANC's Women's League. Then, in 1994, Nelson won the presidential election, becoming South Africa's first Black president; Winnie was subsequently named deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology. However, due to affiliations and rhetoric seen as highly radical, she was ousted from her cabinet post by her husband in 1995. The couple divorced in 1996, having spent few years together out of almost four decades of marriage.

Winnie appeared before the nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 and was found responsible for "gross violations of human rights" in connection to the killings and tortures implemented by her bodyguards. While ANC leaders kept their political distance, Winnie still retained a grassroots following. She was re-elected to Parliament in 1999, only to be convicted of economic fraud in 2003. She quickly resigned from her post, though her conviction was later overturned.

In a 2010 Evening Standard interview, Winnie sharply criticized Archbishop Desmond Tutu and her ex-husband, disparaging Nelson's decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize with former South African President F.W. de Klerk. Winnie later denied making the statements.

In 2012, one year before her husband's death, the British press published an email composed by Winnie, in which she criticized the ANC for its general treatment of the Mandela clan.

Death and Legacy

Following extended hospital visits to treat a kidney infection, Winnie passed away on April 2, 2018, in Johannesburg.

A family spokesperson confirmed the death, saying, "The Mandela family is deeply grateful for the gift of her life and even as our hearts break at her passing‚ we urge all those who loved her to celebrate this most remarkable woman."

Despite the conflicts, Winnie is still widely revered for her role in ending South Africa's oppressive policies. Her story has been the subject of an opera, books and films, her character interpreted by many different actresses across numerous productions. She was played by actress Alfre Woodard in the 1987 television movie Mandela ; by Sophie Okonedo in the TV movie Mrs. Mandela (2010); and by Jennifer Hudson in the 2011 film Winnie .

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
• Birth Year: 1936
• Birth date: September 26, 1936
• Birth City: Bizana
• Birth Country: South Africa
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Winnie Mandela was the controversial wife of Nelson Mandela who spent her life in varying governmental roles.
• Civil Rights
• World Politics
• Astrological Sign: Libra
• University of the Witwatersrand
• Shawbury High School
• Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work
• Nacionalities
• South African
• Death Year: 2018
• Death date: April 2, 2018
• Death City: Johannesburg
• Death Country: South Africa

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Winnie Mandela Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/activists/winnie-mandela
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: August 20, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• Even being in exile really is a constant reminder of the sickness of our society, and that we are virtually in prison, even in our country. Those who are outside prison walls are simply in a bigger prison because the Black man is virtually a prisoner, and all those other fellow whites and other groups that are oppressed as we are, we are all really in prison, in a bigger apartheid prison.

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Biography

Birthday: September 26 , 1936 ( Libra )

Born In: Bizana, Eastern Cape

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Also Known As: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela OLS, Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela

Died At Age: 81

Spouse/Ex-: Nelson Mandela (m. 1958; div. 1996)

father: Columbus Madikizela

mother: Gertrude Madikizela

children: Zenani Mandela, Zindziswa Mandela

Political Leaders South African Women

Died on: April 2 , 2018

place of death: Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg

education: Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work, University of the Witwatersrand

awards: United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Candace Award

You wanted to know

What role did winnie madikizela-mandela play in the anti-apartheid movement.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a prominent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa and played a significant role in the struggle against apartheid alongside her former husband, Nelson Mandela.

What impact did Winnie Madikizela-Mandela have on South African politics?

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had a lasting impact on South African politics by advocating for the rights of black South Africans and challenging the oppressive apartheid regime.

How did Winnie Madikizela-Mandela continue her activism after Nelson Mandela's release from prison?

After Nelson Mandela's release from prison, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela continued her activism by speaking out against social injustices and advocating for the rights of marginalized communities in South Africa.

What challenges did Winnie Madikizela-Mandela face during her political career?

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela faced numerous challenges during her political career, including persecution by the apartheid government, imprisonment, and being subjected to vilification and smear campaigns.

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was the first black social worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg, where she worked tirelessly to support and uplift the community.

She was known for her iconic sense of style and often made bold fashion statements, becoming a symbol of resistance and strength during the anti-apartheid movement.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a skilled orator and used her powerful voice to advocate for justice and equality, inspiring many with her impassioned speeches.

She was a fearless activist who faced immense challenges and hardships, yet remained steadfast in her commitment to fighting for the rights of the marginalized and oppressed.

See the events in life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in Chronological Order

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Winnie madikizela- mandela (1936-2018 ).

Winnie Mandela was the former wife of South African President Nelson Mandela and former leader of the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League. Born in the village of Mbongweni in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province in 1936, Mandela traveled throughout South Africa during her youth and managed to attend school despite strict apartheid measures. She earned a degree in social work from the Jan Hofmeyer School in Johannesburg , and despite the opportunity to continue her studies in America, accepted a position as a social worker at the Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg, where she was the first qualified black medical social worker. She eventually studied at the University of Witwatersrand, and earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations.

Much of Mandela’s interest in racial politics began while she served at the hospital and conducted research into infant mortality rates in the nearby Alexandra Townships. She met her future husband Nelson Mandela in 1957 while he was standing trial for treason because of his civil disobedience campaigns in the early 1950s. The two were married in 1958, and their daughters Zenani and Zinzi were born in 1959 and 1960, respectively.  They lived only four years as a married couple because beginning in 1962, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, spending 18 of those years on Robben Island.

During her husband’s imprisonment, the government restricted Winnie Mandela to the Orlando Township in Soweto . She was prevented from working but flouted this order and worked for the African National Congress (ANC). Beginning in 1969, she served seventeen months in prison in solitary confinement, accused of various crimes under the Terrorism Act.  Later, she was sentenced to house arrest. In 1976, at a time when the anti-apartheid “Black Consciousness” movement spread across South Africa, Mandela became one of the co-founders of the Black Women’s Federation and the Black Parents’ Association.  Despite government efforts to contain her activities, she continued her work with the ANC.

Mandela’s increasingly radical views caused some anti-apartheid groups to distance themselves from her, despite her unofficial title as “Mother of the Nation.” Her small circle of bodyguards, nicknamed the Mandela United Football Club, was sometimes accused of cruelty and terrorism. The 1990s proved highly controversial for Mandela. She was present when her husband was released from prison in February 1990, but the two were separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. As such, she never served as South Africa’s first lady.

In 1991, Winnie Mandela was elected to the executive board of the ANC. That same year, she was charged and convicted, along with members of her Mandela United Football Club, with the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old ANC activist Stompie Moeketsi. Despite this, she went on to be elected and serve ten years as the president of the ANC Women’s League, from 1993 to 2003. She finally resigned after multiple accusations and convictions of fraud and theft.

Winnie Mandela returned to the South African Parliament in 2009. After a long illness, she died in a Johanessburg hospital on April 2, 2018. She was 81.

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Cite this entry in APA format:

Source of the author's information:.

Anné Mariè du Preez Bezdrob, Winnie Mandela: A Life (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2003); https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/winnie-madikizela-mandela .

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

The Order of Luthuli in Silver

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Awarded for:

Her excellent contribution to the fight for the liberation of the people of South Africa. She bravely withstood constant harassment by the apartheid police and challenged their brutality at every turn.

Profile of Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is a woman of substance, a mother of the nation and undisputed heroine of the Struggle. She was born on 26 September 1936 in Bizana in the then Transkei (now called Eastern Cape). She received her primary education in Bizana where she did her junior certificate at Mfundisweni Secondary School and later completed her matric at Shawbury High School. In 1956 Madikizela-Mandela completed a Diploma in Social Work at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work in Johannesburg. In the midst of her harassment by the apartheid government in the late 1980s, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, majoring in International Relations, at the University of the Witwatersrand. Madikizela-Mandela’s involvement in the South African liberation struggle dates to the 50s. Her first detention was in 1958 and it coincided with the mass arrest of women involved in the anti-pass campaign. At the time, she was the chairperson of the Orlando West branch of both the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC Women’s League. She received the first of several banning orders in 1962 which restricted her to Soweto. Five years later she was arrested in Cape Town – while on a visit to her former husband Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island – and sentenced to one month in prison. In 1969 Madikizela-Mandela became one of the first detainees under Section 6 of the notorious Terrorism Act of 1967. She was detained for 18 months in solitary confinement in a condemned cell at the Pretoria Central Prison before being charged under the Suppression of Communism Act of 1950. After initially being found guilty in the famous “Trial of 22” that took place in 1970, Madikizela-Mandela was discharged on appeal. She was imprisoned in Kroonstad along with her friend Dorothy Nyembe until September 1975. In 1976, she was actively involved in organising young people to oppose Bantu Education. Following the 1976 Soweto youth uprising, she served six months at “Number Four” (The Fort Prison). On 16 May 1977, Madikizela-Mandela was taken directly from her cell to Brandfort in the Free State, where she was banished for nine years. Her house in Brandfort was bombed twice. Following the attainment of democracy in 1994, Madikizela-Mandela became a Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture. Upon leaving Cabinet and Parliament, she dedicated her energy on working with different communities, especially people affected by HIV and AIDS, and poverty. The life of Madikizela-Mandela encompasses commitment to community upliftment, opposition to apartheid and determination to build a non-racist, non-sexist and democratic South Africa. Her courage and leadership abilities have triumphed over years of political harassment, personal pain and a wave of media controversy.

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Dies At Age 81

Rachel Martin

Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist and former wife of late South African President Nelson Mandela, has died.

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Professor of Music, University of Ghana

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The news of the death of Nigerian musician Onyeka Onwenu on 30 July 2024 hit me, as a musician and popular music scholar , like a thunderbolt. I have listened to and appreciated Onyeka’s music since I was in my 20s.

Onwenu was aged 72 – and video clips of her last performance at a birthday ceremony showed her energy level and exuberance, making the sudden transition hard to fathom.

Aspiring musicians in Nigeria looked up to the big names in the industry as models and sources of inspiration. Onwenu stood out as a rising star in the early 1980s, when I first heard her name. But it went beyond music. I watched her 1984 BBC-NTA documentary Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches on television. Written and presented by Onwenu, it was a masterpiece in terms of technical quality and its underpinning ideological intent. It spoke to the corruption of the Shehu Shagari administration (1979-1983).

Aired at the onset of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the documentary made a strong political statement. It signposted Onwenu as a lover of, and strong voice for, a new Nigeria.

It also showed Onwenu’s talents, expertise and sound educational background. With these credentials and many more, Onwenu entered the Nigerian music scene with a bang. Although based in the financial hub, Lagos, she made an impact on the entire country.

Her song that first caught my interest was Onye ga b'egwu, an Igbo children’s folksong. In the 1990s and 2000s when I led my dance band and that of the Department of Performing Arts at the University of Ilorin, we frequently played covers of her popular songs like Ekwe, Wait For Me, You and I and Madawalowu, to the admiration of our audiences.

And when I won a government grant to do research on the contributions of Nigerian musicians to the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, I analysed her song Winnie Mandela. She eulogised Nelson Mandela’s wife as a heroine and extolled the virtues of womanhood in very trying conditions.

Onwenu brought class, style and respectability into the entertainment business and elevated the status of women in the performing arts. She proved that a woman’s worth and respectability do not necessarily lie with being a wife but in how she fulfils her destiny. She came into the music business at a time when respect for women in the industry was at a low ebb and quickly changed things. She was unstoppable in her exploits as a songwriter, singer, activist, media personality, actress and political figure.

Her style of music was unique and defies categories. Most importantly, she was a voice of national unity, calling for tolerance and justice through her music and her films.

Early life and education

Onwenu was born in 1952 in Obosi, then Eastern Region of Nigeria. She had her roots in Arondizuogu, present day Imo State, south-east Nigeria, where her father was from. She was the youngest of five children of educationist and politician D.K. Onwenu. Her father is said to have died tragically when Onwenu was only four years old, just a week before he was to start work as minister of education. She was raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

She had a BA in international relations and communication from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and an MA in media studies from The New School for Social Research, New York, in the United States.

Despite years of schooling and working abroad, Onwenu remained connected to her roots as an Igbo woman. She revamped and recontextualised Igbo folksongs for contemporary relevance, as exemplified by songs like Onye ga b’egwu, Ekwe and Iyogogo. Yet she cannot be described as an ethnic musician. With smash hits like For the Love of You, In the Morning Light, One Love, You and I, Dancing in the Sun and the duet Wait for Me with King Sunny Ade, Onwenu established herself as a national and international artiste and personality.

By singing in her native Igbo and English, living in the multi-cultural and cosmopolitan city of Lagos, working with professionals and corporate bodies of diverse backgrounds, and her marriage to a Yoruba Muslim, Onwenu broke social and cultural barriers and communicated across a broad spectrum of audiences worldwide.

She not only brought global pop sounds into Nigerian music but also helped to spread Nigerian popular music abroad. Her signing on to the Benson and Hedges label, an international tobacco company that promoted Nigeria music massively in the 1990s, was significant.

Roles in public life

She used her music as an entry point to other roles – and as a political weapon. She performed her song Winnie Mandela to the great pleasure of Winnie and Nelson Mandela during their visit to Nigeria after his release from prison in May 1990 .

She was criticised for her involvement in the controversial “one-million march” in 1998 in support of the political ambitions of the later dictator Sani Abacha. However, in her book My Father’s Daughter she said she was tricked into performing at the event.

Onwenu was also a good actress, who featured in films like Rising Moon and Women’s Cot (2005), Half of a Yellow Sun (2013), Lion Heart (2018), Foreigner’s God (2019) and Ije Awele, (2022) among others.

Due to her activism and advocacy for women’s empowerment, she was appointed director general of the National Centre for Women Development in Abuja , Nigeria in 2013. She also served as chair of Imo State Council for Arts and Culture.

She demonstrated boldness and tenacity in dealing with issues in her life, including her struggles in marriage. Her career sustainability in a male-dominated entertainment industry is also commendable. She showed women they could be whoever they wanted to be even in the face of challenges in life.

At this time in Nigeria, where agitations for secession and ethnic profiling are threatening the country’s unity, it is worth recalling her message of One Love Keep us Together.

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