NUY 40+ In Memoriam: South African Anti-Apartheid Icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Dies at Age 81

"Forever Young": Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela addressing the crowd at her 80th Birthday Celebration September 2016

Yesterday, South Africa’s state broadcaster reported the news that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, prominent politician, anti-apartheid activist and the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, has passed away. She was 81. Winnie Madikizela was born 1936 and was South Africa's first black professional social welfare worker. She devoted service to needy people and directed most of her energy and skill to the struggle for equality and justice for all people in South Africa.

Known by many supporters in her homeland as "Mother of the Nation", Madikizela-Mandela was widely revered in South Africa for her role in fighting apartheid.  After marrying Nelson Mandela in 1958 she suffered harassment, imprisonment, and periodic banishment for her continuing involvement in the struggle for equal rights.   

Known as much for her stony, uncompromising leadership and passionate eloquence as she was for being Nelson Mandela's wife, in 1992, the marriage ended after 33 years, but problems for Winnie (who changed her surname Madikizela-Mandela)  continued. Winnie Madikizela served as both a Member of Parliament and as a deputy minister in South Africa, but the politician eventually fell out of international political favor due to repeated accusations of links to violence and corruption.

In 1997 she Mandela re-elected as president of the African National Congress Women's League, much to the dismay of the African National Congress leadership. In spite of the scandals that plagued her life post-Nelson, Madikizela-Mandela remained popular among the poor and disenfranchised,  and maintained her home in Soweto, just a few moments away from Orlando Museum House- the museum created out of the Orlando West Soweto home she and President Mandela formerly shared during their marriage. 

Speaking on behalf of family, Mrs. Mandela's personal assistant, Zodwa Zwane, acknowledged in a statement to South Africa's state broadcaster that the politician—who suffered from diabetes and recently underwent several major surgeries, died from long-term illness, and had been in and out of the hospital since the start of the 2018.