“I do not respond to megalomaniac garbage.”
This was the angry response by ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as she avoided a public spat with Deputy Minister of Communications Stella Tembisa Ndabeni.
Madikizela-Mandela spoke to The Star after visiting award-winning veteran photographer Alf Kumalo at the Netcare Waterfall City Hospital in Sunninghill, Sandton.
Kumalo has been in and out of hospital since a fall early this year.
“Alf is a family photographer. I knew him before I got married and he has been part of the family. I was very sorry when I heard he was in hospital,” Madikizela-Mandela said, adding that Kumalo had sent her a message that he was ill while she was in hospital recently.
“I only learnt yesterday (Sunday) that he is in hospital. I am upset, but the doctors have assured me that he will get better.”
Madikizela-Mandela refused to be drawn on Tembisa Ndabeni’s sarcastic statements meant to degrade her as a two-faced and hypocritical leader who was far from being the saint that she purports to be.
Responding to Madikizela-Mandela’s attack on President Jacob Zuma, including his supposedly dictatorial leadership style and polygamous lifestyle, Tembisa Ndabeni had posted on her Facebook page: “Life can be interesting. Dali Mpofu represented Julius Malema in the NDC (ANC national disciplinary committee) hearings, Mam’ Winnie has always seen a great leader like Madiba in Julius (Malema) and now… sees immorality in Zuma… Who is a saint between the two of them (Zuma and Mam’ Winnie?)”
Kumalo, meanwhile, said he was hoping to be discharged. “Obviously it’s not good spending time in and out of hospital. But I will be okay. I have always survived.”
The Star