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With the death today of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the age of 81, South Africa mourns the passing of one of its most courageous anti-apartheid activists, says Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane.

“A mother holds a special place in one’s heart, and this is no less so for the woman who was affectionately known as ‘the mother of the nation’,” he said.

Archbishop Ndungane paid tribute to Mrs Madikizela-Mandela’s lifelong commitment to the poorest of the poor in South Africa.

“At the time of the imprisonment of much of the leadership of the anti-apartheid movements on Robben Island and in exile, she fearlessly took on the role of being the voice of the voiceless,” the Archbishop said.
 
“Her feisty spirit was such that not even the cruelty of the apartheid government in banishing her to house arrest in Brandfort could break her resilience and opposition to the government of the day.
 
“I have abundant memories of her forthright personality and her determination to protect the marginalised of society.
 
“So it was that Mama Madikizela-Mandela played a leading role in the 13th International Aids Conference in 2000 in Durban, at the height of the AIDS denialist movement.
 
“Not long before President Thabo Mbeki had scolded delegates for closing their minds to questions about HIV and Aids, Mama appeared in an ‘HIV-positive’ T-shirt, demanding treatment for the 4,2 million South Africans living with the virus,” he said.
 
“Mama Madikizela-Mandela was never afraid to be controversial in her advocacy for the vulnerable, describing the annual death from HIV/Aids at the time as a ‘social holocaust’, and accusing the government of betraying the people who had voted it into power, and of becoming obedient servants to multinational pharmaceutical companies.
 
“Following the 2000 conference, she then joined me and a number of other civil society leaders in marching through the streets of Durban to publicise the cause of HIV/Aids,” he said.
 
“Although Mama Madikizela-Mandela made some well-documented errors of judgment during her life, she remained committed to the vulnerable and was often the first at the scene of a tragedy to provide comfort and compassion to those impacted by it,” he said.
 
Archbishop Ndungane added that it had been his privilege at the time of Madikizela-Mandela’s appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to send her a message of pastoral support in his capacity then as Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Issued on behalf of Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane