This time it is not the Pretoria government, but her own people who have rejected her. The reverberations of yesterday's unequivocal statement by the "Mass Democratic Movement" will take time to be felt around the world. Winnie Mandela has been excommunicated by the very struggle of which she had become a revered and potent symbol.
The statement, presented in Johannesburg yesterday by former United Democratic Front acting publicity secretary Murphy Morobe, UDF president Archie Gumede and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Elijah Barayi, suggested that the substance- if not necessarily the details -of the allegations against her are true. And news agency reports late yesterday said senior members of the African National Congress had been fully briefed on the issue and supported the efforts of the Soweto community.' The ANC was in touch with those who were dealing with the crisis. The movement's president, Oliver Tambo, was on his way back to Lusaka from Harare and was expected to issue a statement today….
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.