JOHANNESBURG, April (ANA) - Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's daughters Zinzi and Zenani paid a moving yet defiant tribute to their mother on Saturday, saying she had kept the "fires of liberation burning" in the country while her husband, former president Nelson Mandela, was in prison.
Zenani, who struggled to hold back tears while speaking at Madikizela-Mandela's funeral at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, lambasted the media for "peddling lies" about her mother and her contribution to the struggle, but only to recover to tell the truth when she was dead.
"Lies had become part of the narrative of her life. But the truth has come out. Only they know why they chose to share the truth now," she said.
"And to those of you who vilified my mother through books, on speeches, and on social media, don't even think for a minute that we have forgotten. Praising my mother now that she is gone shows [what] hypocrites you are."
Zanani also slammed the media's "obsession" with her mother's personal life, saying that "the world holds men and women to different standards of morality".
She said Madikizela-Mandela had made a choice to raise her own family and the larger family of South Africa as her contribution to the struggle but had always reminded her children that they were the most important people in her life.
"Ever since our mother departed this world our hearts have been heavy. We have been shielded from our own pain by your condolences. I stand here to celebrate her life. She took on the most evil and powerful regime of the past century. She fought because the fight against apartheid was not some polite picnic at which you showed up in your best behaviour," she said.
Grandchild Zondwa Mandela said Madikizela-Mandela's death was a "wound" that would never heal, adding that Madikizela-Mandela was a hero who sacrificed her own life for the betterment of her people.
"In the face of danger, they sacrificed... She was just an ordinary woman, one of us, but dared to fight for what is right," Zondwa said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
