Winnie Mandela helped Nelson become the radical that he was | Peter Hain

At a pivotal point in South Africa’s history, Winnie urged Nelson to risk ANC alienation and embrace young activists

During Nelson Mandela’s 1962 trial in Pretoria, before he was sent to Robben Island, Winnie turned up each day, often magnificent in traditional chiefdom dress.

My anti-apartheid activist mother Adelaine was often alone, showing solidarity, in the whites-only section of the public gallery. Once, when my younger sisters went with her, dressed in their primary school uniforms, Winnie bent down and kissed them, to the very evident horror and disgust of the onlooking white policemen, who spat and cursed. The very notion of a black woman behaving that way towards two blonde girls offended every apartheid instinct. But Winnie didn’t care.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2GvcUnJ