NELSON Mandela’s former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, is trying to patch up her relationship with South African President Thabo Mbeki, while claiming that he had “grievously maligned” her, the Sunday Times reports.
The newspaper says that Madikizela-Mandela, the president of the women’s league of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), wrote a “sensational” letter last May to Deputy President Jacob Zuma, in which she charged that ambitious backstabbers were misleading Mbeki by spreading disparaging rumours about her and that the ANC’s leaders were systematically persecuting her.
The newspaper says it has a copy of the letter, and that its authenticity was confirmed by Madikizela-Mandela and by Zuma’s office.
Madikizela-Mandela, a member of parliament, but who was rarely seen in the House last year, complained in the letter that Mbeki had lambasted her at a meeting of senior ANC officials, accusing her of spreading malicious rumours about his personal life, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper said it had decided not to repeat those rumours because there was no evidence that it would be in the public interest to do so.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi apparently approached the newspaper in his personal capacity to express concern about the possible damage publication of the letter might cause to the president.
Zuma’s representative, Lakela Kaunda, said the deputy president would discuss the letter with the ANC leadership, the newspaper said.
Winnie and Nelson Mandela married in 1958, and the couple had two daughters before the prison doors slammed on the future president in 1964.
In 1986, at a time when suspected traitors were being burned alive by crowds in the volatile townships, Winnie declared that South African would be freed “with our matchboxes”, and surrounded herself with a band of thugs that was christened the Mandela United Football Club.
Her bond with Mandela endured through letters and visits to prison and when he was released in 1990, Winnie was there holding his hand, but in private she had rejected him for a young lover.
They separated in 1992 and in 1998 – on his 80th birthday – Mandela married Graca Machel, the widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel. – AFP