African leaders, especially those in the southern Africa sub-region, have been urged to immortalize the late Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the unwavering anti-apartheid freedom fighter and former wife of Nelson Mandela. Winnie, who died on the second of this month, was laid to rest last weekend in the popular township of Soweto, where she grew up.
Two notable freedom fighters from the Southern Africa sub-region, who made the call while addressing the Eighth African Regional Executive Committee in Lusaka, Zambia, said that sustaining the legacies of the late freedom-fighter would help to “throw apartheid permanently into the dust-bin of history.”
To set the pace, the notable Namibian activist, Carl Heingob, latched on to the eulogies delivered at Winnie’s grave side and described the iconic heroine of South African liberation as “the mother of the modern democratic South African nation and the continent of Africa”. He recalled that together with her late husband, Nelson Mandela, “Winnie epitomized remarkable sacrifices for the freedom of all of us against the tyranny of apartheid.”
In his words, “Lest we forget, not long ago, racist South Africa shamelessly separated the beautiful people of that great country on account of their God-given colors, which forced Winnie to courageously join the millions of Blacks who fought and defeated apartheid.”
Mr. Heingob said, “Winnie combined rare multiple roles of a woman: a mother, grandmother, freedom-fighter, party organiser and a parliamentarian, who exhibited unconditional love for others.”
Speaking along the same line, the renowned Zambian freedom fighter, Eto Chimuza, went down memory lane to recall some of the words of wisdom expressed by Winnie Mandela in the course of the struggle. Mr. Chimuza said such popular expressions included, “Women should rise up to the challenge of their marginalization in male-dominated society”; “Women are their own liberators”, and “Nothing about us without us.”
He cheered the consolidation of democratic process in Africa, especially the new development in Zimbabwe and the smooth inception of President Cyril Ramaphosa as the fifth President of the Republic of South Africa following the resignation of former President Jacob Zuma.
