Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie (1936?-2018), was a controversial South African politician and political activist. She was a member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003. She was also the former wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
From 1960 to 1990, she became internationally known for her opposition to the white-minority apartheid government that ruled South Africa until 1994. This activity took place while her husband, Nelson Mandela, was serving a prison sentence for sabotage and conspiracy. On a number of occasions during this period, she herself was imprisoned or restricted to certain parts of the country. Her activism earned her the nickname “Mother of the Nation.” In the late 1980’s, Winnie Mandela was linked to a group that kidnapped four young men and murdered one of them. She was convicted of kidnapping in 1991 and fined.
In 1994, Winnie Mandela was elected to Parliament in South Africa’s first election open to people of all races. She served as deputy minister of arts, culture, science, and technology from 1994 to 1995, when she was released from the post. In March 1996, the Mandelas were divorced, and she changed her name to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. In 1997, she appeared before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to defend herself against charges of human rights abuses during the apartheid years. In 2003, she was convicted on dozens of charges of bank fraud and theft. She then resigned from her seat in Parliament. In 2004, a court overturned her theft convictions but upheld her fraud convictions. Despite her legal problems, Madikizela-Mandela remained popular with many South Africans.
Winifred Nomzamo Madikizela was born in Bizana, near Port Edward, on Sept. 26, probably in 1936. She married Nelson Mandela in 1958. She died on April 2, 2018.
