POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Winnie Mandela Sentenced to Five Years in Jail

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Anthony Stoppard

PRETORIA, Apr 25 2003 (IPS) - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela and an icon of the struggle against apartheid, has been sentenced to five years in jail on charges of fraud and theft.

The sentence was handed down in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday.

Madikizela-Mandela was found guilty of being part of a scheme to defraud a bank and insurance company. Broker, Addy Moolman submitted loan applications containing "false information" to Saambou Bank and brokerage firm Imstud, according to the court. The applications were accompanied by letters on the African National Congress Woman’s League (ANCWL) letterhead and signed by Madikizela-Mandela’, then the president of the organisation.

The letters said the applicants worked for the ANCWL, when in fact they did not, the court said. The money Madikizela-Mandela received from the scheme was used to pay the salary of an employee. Moolman has also been found guilty on the charges. The two have been granted leave to appeal their sentences and are presently out on bail of R10,000 (around 1,334 U.S. dollars).

Despite the length of her sentence, 65-year-old Madikizela-Mandela is only likely to serve eight months in prison, before being eligible for community service.

State prosecutor, Jan Ferreira said he recognised her contribution to end apartheid in South Africa. "One should consider the hardship she had suffered and is still suffering. She has been banished, tortured and her husband was in prison," Ferreira said, referring to Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in jail.

"Unfortunately something went wrong somewhere. She started to act as if she was above the law. She showed no respect for institutions of the state, including Parliament," Ferreira added.

The Cape Town High Court on Friday also reportedly dismissed a bid by Madikizela-Mandela to stop the speaker of South Africa’s National Assembly, Frene Ginwala, from publicly reprimanding her. The reprimand was recommended by Parliament’s joint ethics committee last year, after it found she had not disclosed some R55,000 (7,334 U.S. dollars) a month in donations and a financial interest in the Winnie Mandela Family Museum in Soweto, Johannesburg.

However, the court ruling in the Parliamentary reprimand is now somewhat academic. While insisting she was innocent, Madikizela-Mandela, announced she would resign from all her official positions in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC).

"The dictates of prudence are such as to have me resign my position in Parliament, position in the ANCWL, position in the ANC national executive committee and attendant positions in my party," she said in a statement issued shortly after she was sentenced.

She added that displays of popular support for her during her trial have "enhanced my appreciation for the support I continue to enjoy among my fellow South Africans. Their loyalty has remained unstinting and confirms to me that my life, with all its turns, is worth it."

And, Madikizela-Mandela’s life has had many twists and turns. Her personal strength and persistent defiance of the apartheid government secured her the status of an icon of the struggle against apartheid and the affection of millions of South Africans – which continues among many until today.

Her personal popularity – especially among poor South Africans – survived her divorce from former president, Nelson Mandela, in 1996 and her conviction of the kidnapping and assault of a 14-year old township activist, Stompie Seipei, in 1992.

Madikizela-Mandela has had repeated conflicts with the leadership of the ANC and the government. She was removed from her post of Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture in the first post-apartheid government after a number of public scandals and allegations of abuse of office.

In 2001, she had a public spat with South African President, Thabo Mbeki, after she interrupted a rally by arriving late. Mbeki warded her off when she came up to hug him, knocking her hat off, in front of the crowd and ultimately on national television.

Even so, Madikizela-Mandela’s popularity remains undimmed with large swathes of the South African public. It is unlikely that this latest conviction will change that.