Stompie Seipei Was Unavailable For Comment

 What is it with Bishops?


Pretoria, South Africa, Apr 3, 2018 / 09:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of South Africa offered their sympathy Tuesday for the death of the controversial anti-apartheid activist and politician Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was the former wife of Nelson Mandela.
Madikizela-Mandela died in hospital in Johannesburg Monday at the age of 81 after a long-term illness. In an April 3 statement, the South African bishops’ conference praised her as a “committed activist [and a] courageous leader.”

Her presence as a world figure enabled her to speak “where millions of other women could not,” and “her courage, her thirst for justice for all, black and white, her inspired and persistent defiance towards an unjust system was historic and will inspire many in the future,” the message stated.

Convicted Kidnapper

However, Mrs Madikizela-Mandela found herself mired in scandal for decades.

She was accused of conducting a virtual reign of terror in parts of Soweto by other members of the ANC in the late 1980s, and heard backing the practice of "necklacing" - putting burning tyres around suspected informants' necks.

She was also found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to six years' imprisonment for her involvement in the death of 14-year-old township militant Stompie Seipei. She always denied the allegation, and the sentence was reduced to a fine.

Mr Mandela, who stood by her throughout the accusations, was finally released from prison in February 1990.
But two years later, their marriage crumbled. The couple divorced in 1996, but she kept his surname and maintained ties with him.

She stayed involved in politics, but was again embroiled in controversy when she was convicted of fraud in 2003.