Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie OLS MP, commonly known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as Nelson Mandela’s second wife.
She was born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela on September 26, 1936, and died on April 2, 2018. She was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996 and a member of parliament from 1994 to 2003 and 2009 till her death.
She was an African National Congress (ANC) political party member who oversaw the organization’s Women’s League and National Executive Committee. She was referred to by her admirers as the “Mother of the Nation” by Madikizela-Mandela.
Winnie Mandela cause of death: What happened to Winnie Mandela’s second wife?
On April 2, 2018, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 81, passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg. She had recently undergone numerous significant surgeries and had diabetes. Since the beginning of the year, she “had been in and out of the hospital.”
In the days preceding Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral, in a contentious political climate soon after the removal of former President Jacob Zuma, Jessie Duarte, a senior ANC leader, urged detractors to “sit down and shut up,” while Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, declared that “anyone who accuses Mama Winnie of any crime is guilty of treason.”
