Winnie faces up to 15 years in jail

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, could be sentenced to 15 years in jail today after being convicted for fraud and theft in a bungled banking scam.

Several streets around the Pretoria Regional Court were partially cordoned off following threats by the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) to do ”anything” in its power to keep its honorary president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela out of jail even if it meant burning the prison holding her.

On Thursday, Cosas called on pupils and students to go to Pretoria on Friday to show support for Madikizela-Mandela. Police said they were aware of the Cosas threat and had sufficient plans in place to deal with any incident.

The Pretoria regional court yesterday found South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaigner guilty of exploiting her position as head of the African National Congress’s women’s league to defraud a bank and dozens of ordinary people.

Madikizela-Mandela (68) was caught in a web of forged signatures, bogus employees and a non-existent funeral scheme. After her evidence was branded dishonest and her denials implausible, she was convicted on 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft.

Supporters cried ”Viva Winnie” in the dank corridor outside No 1 court, and she raised a clenched fist, but that could not mask what was a devastating blow to the self-styled mother of the nation.

Opposition parties said it should end a political career that started four decades ago as a fairytale of the liberation struggle.

The woman some call Africa’s Evita was released on bail but will return to court today for sentencing alongside her broker, Addy Moolman, an accomplice who was also convicted of fraud and theft.

Pressure is likely to mount from within the African National Congress to ask ANC Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to resign from Parliament.

In terms of the Constitution, she might lose her seat in Parliament if she is sentenced to more than six months without the option of a fine. She may be saved from losing her seat if she appeals her sentence.

But senior members of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) said the party will prevail upon her indirectly to resign from Parliament for the sake of the party’s image. ”It would be appropriate for her to step down to save the party from embarrassment,” said an NEC member.

The magistrate, Peet Johnson, said the evidence against her was ”overwhelming” and it was ”completely improbable” that Madikizela-Mandela, who pleaded not guilty, did not know of the scam.

The fraud charges relate to loans from Saambou Bank and a brokerage firm, Imstud, for applicants who falsely claimed to be employees of the ANC women’s league. They presented the bank with letters with league letterheads and Madikizela-Mandela’s signature.

”She exactly knew that she signed letters that would enable people to get loans to which they were not entitled,” the magistrate said.

The theft charges related to deductions the league president is said to have made from each of the loan applicants’ bank accounts for a funeral policy which was not underwritten. Instead the money was used to pay one of Madikizela-Mandela’s employees.

In testimony, Madikizela-Mandela said the intention was philanthropic and that she had signed documents without checking them, not realising Moolman was a crook.

Wearing a cream jacket and skirt and a pearl necklace, she remained impassive when the verdict was announced to a packed courtroom. Ignoring questions from reporters, she was escorted by bodyguards past supporters — and a court cafe called Caught — to a waiting Mercedes-Benz.

The ruling party said it respected the court’s decision and awaited the sentence. The maximum penalty is 15 years in jail.

The populist is loathed by President Thabo Mbeki, who famously knocked off her hat when she tried to kiss him at a rally, but retains strong support among grassroot activists.

Despite international shopping sprees and a taste for luxury, the former social worker engages with the poor and young, turning up at their funerals and weddings.

The Madikizela-Mandela is seen as a hot potato and several ANC members are relying on the court to deal with her decisively. Having received the sixth most votes in the election for the ANC’s 60-member executive committee, she seldom showed up at parliament.

A core of loyalists forgave her everything, including the adultery cited by Nelson Mandela in their 1995 divorce, and the 1991 conviction over the death of Stompie Seipei, a 14-year-old activist found near her Soweto home with his throat cut.

For that a six-year jail term was reduced on appeal to a fine, but for many the mother of the nation had become the ”mugger of the nation”.

Madikizela-Mandela has recently been embroiled in two legal battles and was recently found guilty of breaching Parliament’s code of conduct by failing to disclose her financial interests. Early this month she sought to challenge the public censure she faced as a result.

Senior members of the ANC’s NEC have been talking to Madikizela-Mandela over the past two years to ”prevent her from self-destructing”, said an NEC member. ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and former NEC member Peter Mokaba, who was a close friend of hers, were among those who had tried to talk to her.

There is a sense in some ANC leadership circles, however, that these interventions came too late because her ”self-destructive” tendencies had developed too far.

”We should have provided her with more guidance on how to conduct herself and her affairs. To an extent the ANC leadership has failed,” said one ANC leader, who added that Madikizela-Mandela was nonetheless the cause of her own demise.

Another NEC member said: ”She is beyond being influenced and plays one member against the other — her usual style of brinkmanship.”

The ANC leadership’s ability to deal with her was constrained by her grassroots popularity, which has allowed her to flout organisational discipline and publicly differ from the official line.

Madikizela-Mandela never fails to draw the crowds, and Thursday was no exception, with people thronging outside court to cheer her.

Legal experts say there is no doubt counsel for Madikizela-Mandela will appeal the judgement. But it is likely she will serve time in prison because of her previous suspended sentence in 1991 as an accessory to the kidnapping of 14-year-old township activist Stompie Seipei, whose body was found near her home with his throat cut.

Madikizela-Mandela father chose the name ”Winifred” because it sounded German, a people he respected for their diligence. Nomzamo, the first name by which few know her, means ”she who must endure trials”.

Mother of the nation becomes the mugger