SSR Vol5 FIFA- WC-SA

Mandela’s 2nd Wife Winnie Mandela also acknowledged in his autobiography that he was ''too-often a distant father,'' and that the children grew up largely without his help. Mandela married his second wife, Winnie Madikizela, in 1958 one year after his divorce to Evelyn.

As a couple, Winnie and Nelson Mandela was said to be made for each other. And apparently most of Mandela’s friends agreed that Winnie was the love of his life. Winnie is also the only one that most of the world was familiar mainly because of the social struggle that ensued. Winnie was a young and attractive social worker, and developed into a political activist with a fiery flare. The couple got married while Nelson Mandela was still under government investigation (in 1958). They had two daughters, Zenani (Zeni), born 4 February 1958, and Zindziswa (Zindzi) Mandela-Hlongwane, born 1960. It resulted in Mandela incarcerated for most of the years he was married to Winnie, but she continued the struggle and maintained contact with her husband in jail. Over the years Winnie campaigned tirelessly for Mandela’s release, but in return, she was arrested and banished to the extreme part of South Africa by the apartheid authorities. It was said that Winnie’s visits and letters was a tremendous comfort to Mandela and helped him cope during his long years in jail. The couple was re-united when Mandela was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years, but by that time allegations of misconduct against Winnie continued to mount. She was accused of being unfaithful during Mandela’s years of incarceration, but the big blow was the fraud and kidnapping charges brought against her. The couple separated in 1992, until their divorce was finalized in 1996. Within that time Mandela was elected as the first black President of South Africa in 1994 and Winnie never got the privilege of serving as First Lady of South Africa due to the separation. For us at SSR, Winnie’s name will always be held in close association with Nelson Mandela, because apartheid, leadership, family, imprisonment and freedom was the fabric of Nelson Mandela’s life, and Winnie was very much a part of all of these phases. Unfortunately their marriage did not survive Mandela’s political fortitude and what was seen by some as Winnie embarrassment to the ANC political party. In 1959, the University where Mandela attended, restricted registrations of black students for most of the apartheid era and that certainly did not help his cause.

Wedding photo courtesy of Mandela.org.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela and his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, right, ibn social settings 2010-02 (AP Photo )

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