Winnie Mandela

Winnie Madikizela–Mandela born Nomzamo Winfreda Zanyiwe Madikizela is a South African politician who has held several government positions and headed the African National Congress Women’s League. She is currently a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

Although still married to Nelson Mandela at the time of his becoming president of South Africa in May 1994, the couple had separated two years earlier. Their divorce was finalized on March 1996, with an unspecified out-of-court settlement. Her attempt to obtain a settlement up to US$5 million, half of what she claimed her ex-husband was worth, was dismissed when she failed to appear in court for a financial settlement hearing.

“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.”

– Winnie Mandela

She met lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1957. They married in 1958 and had two daughters, Zenani and Zindzi . In June 2010, she was treated for shock after the death of her great granddaughter, Zenani, who was killed in a car accident on the eve of the opening of South Africa’s World Cup. She suffers from diabetes.