Media Statement

Fellow comrades today we gather here on the occasion of the commemoration of Isithwalandwe/Seaparankwe who stood firm in the fight against colonialism and apartheid of more than three (3) centuries of oppression subjugated against the majority of our people. Mama Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela-Mandela dared her acquired social work qualification and chose a path that saw her incarcerated, banished, tortured and exiled in her own land of birth.

She became a prominent political figure at the height of Apartheid State of Emergency as she refused to remain silent when our leaders were exiled and jailed. Mama Winnie was a proponent of the organs of people’s power as she galvanised society through existing structures to mobilise our people against the indignation of a White supremacist government that was consistent in inflicting a vicious onslaught against our people.

She was loved by both young and old as she represented hope for the marginalised masses of our people when our very own organisation was banned and all our leaders exiled and sent to South Africa’s notorious Alcatraz, the Robben Island Prison.

Mama Winnie’s fighting spirit was never in depletion even when she was legally registered as an obvious candidate to the infamous Suppression of Communism Act and its sister ordinance of Imprisonment without trial.

Mama Winnie incurred suffering from all these unjust pieces of legislation and albeit having to raise her own two beautiful daughters, she chose a life of being a mother to a bleeding nation marred by violence, poverty and an inherent racist system aimed to exterminate the majority of the population which was Black in general and African in particular.

This baobab tree soon became a midwife who crisscrossed the country without any permission from the racist government, in her endeavour to fight for a better life for all her children who continued to be mercilessly butchered on all fronts, just for demanding a classless society for all.

Mama Winnie’s fearlessness in the battlefield constantly clashed with the Apartheid Security Forces and she became a frequent patron to the most notorious prison facilities across the country, as she once acclaimed with no sense of self importance that she was a product of the masses of her country but also a product of the enemy of our people.

Her gallantry in the fight against the liberation of our people who still remain women in their majority, from the triple challenges of avert poverty, unemployment and visible inequality became a thorn in the then Apartheid administration.

Mama Winnie’s continued fight for a free, democratic , non-racial, non-sexist and a prosperous South Africa was neither idealism nor self-delusion but a dream she lived to realise. At the dawn of our political freedom this gentle giant continued to be the voice of reason in ensuring that the ideals implanted in the historic Congress of the People in 1955, were carried through with no exception.

As an all round cadre who has seen and done it all through her activism in the combat zone of our revolution, Mama Winnie never reneged in the conviction that the motive forces should prevail as the primary beneficiaries of our hard earned freedoms.

She therefore was passionate and never relinquished the torch bequeathed from giants such as Lilian Ngoyi, Sophie Williams, Bertha Gxowa and many others who came before us in the resilient struggle to free society from the shackles of inherent patriarchy.

Comrades we are indeed standing on the shoulders of colossal women who fought a good fight and as we remember Mama Winnie today we must dare not forget the exceptional sacrifices made by these women during the course of our liberation struggle.

Our revolutionary task is to keep the flame alight as we strive to renew an organisation that belongs to these gigantic figures of yesteryear.

The most prestigious honour our generation can attribute to Mama Winnie is to strive through our deeds and ensure that the ANC wins decisively in the upcoming National General Elections.

This comrades is a task we must dare not fail as Mama Winnie herself once retorted during the darkest days of our liberation struggle when she said…”There is no longer anything I can fear.

There is nothing the government has not done to me. There isn’t any pain I have not known” Therefore our revolutionary conscience must always be submerged on the conviction that the ANC remains the only hope for our people and in memory of Mama Winnie we must do everything necessary to defend our revolution.

The enemy is hard at work and it is now no longer a narrative but concerted efforts for regime change, thus we must close ranks and defend the gains we have achieved over the last three (3) decades.

The 1956 Women’s March should always remind us of our duty to defend the revolution and as a commitment and a tribute to those who stood firm against Strydom and his ilk, we must reiterate the words of our forebears when they said..” You strike a woman you strike a rock”

The ANC Women’s League therefore recommit ourselves on this day of remembrance of our former President to our founding aims and objectives ‘to mobilise , organise and unite South African women to participate in the struggle for the full liberation of all vulnerable and oppressed groups’ As we march towards 29 May 2024 we awaken the deathless, immortal and never dying soul of Mama Winnie to stroll with us towards a decisive victory for the only organisation that she has ever endorsed until she drew her last breadth.

Our conviction to a free, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society can only be fully realised when the ANC of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela regains state power in the upcoming National General Elections.