Winnie Madikizela-Mandela staged a spectacular snub of South Africa's ruling party elite when she attended a memorial service on Saturday for the country's last white first lady, rather than the state funeral of its first black defence minister, Joe Modise.
Madikizela-Mandela, former president Nelson Mandela's ex-wife, said at the Pretoria memorial service for Marike de Klerk, who was murdered last week, that the killing of the former first lady was an indictment of the country and a sign that all South Africans should fight crime.
She said of former president FW de Klerk's ex-wife: "It is a tragedy that a woman who has contributed so much to the history of our country should have left us in such a tragic manner."
Her presence at the memorial service for De Klerk was a clear insult to President Thabo Mbeki and the African National Congress leadership.
Flags have been flying at half mast all over South Africa for Modise, who died two weeks ago from cancer.
At his funeral service, held at Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday, Mbeki said a memorial would be built to the 72-year-old former defence minister who, during the struggle against apartheid, was a leader of Umkhonto weSizwe.
Madikizela-Mandela was one of a few black faces at De Klerk's memorial service, which followed a private burial in Pretoria earlier on Saturday, and at which F W de Klerk led mourners dominated by former National Party stalwarts. - Own correspondent