Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has long been South Africa's larger-than-life apartheid heroine, dubbed the "Mother of the Nation".
But the 66-year-old firebrand, who was convicted on Thursday along with her broker Addy Moolman of dozens of counts of fraud and theft, has rarely been far from controversy.
Revered and reviled in almost equal measure, her repeated run-ins with the law have left their mark on her reputation.
The former wife of Africa's most-respected statesman Nelson Mandela, Madikizela-Mandela was a fearsome opponent of the apartheid regime and firebrand leader of the African National Congress Women's League.
Detractors brand Madikizela-Mandela a troublemaker She campaigned tirelessly for the anti-apartheid struggle following her former husband Nelson Mandela's arrest just six years after their 1958 marriage, and gained heroine status during her subsequent years of detention, banishment and arrest.
Continues Below ↓
Apartheid ended in 1994. But Madikizela-Mandela's battles with the courts - accompanied by tales of her taste for glamorous living - kept her in the national spotlight.
Known as "Mother of the Nation" for her role in the freedom struggle, she was branded the "Mugger of the Nation" after revelations about the violent activities of her "Mandela United Football Club" group of enforcers.
She was convicted in 1991 of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault after the death of 14-year-old township activist Stompie Seipei, found near her home with his throat cut. Her six-year jail term was reduced on appeal to a fine.
Her reputation was further knocked when Nelson Mandela sacked her from his newly-elected ANC government in 1995 and divorced her for adultery a year later. They had separated in 1992.
Flamboyant Madikizela-Mandela refused to be banished to the political wilderness Archbishop Desmond Tutu, long seen as South Africa's moral conscience, accused her during public Truth and Reconciliation hearings in 1998 of gross human rights abuses.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
