Thinkers: Trevor Tambo (left) and Lunga Williams. Photo: Brian Sokutu
Anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is believed to have been the first South African to be honoured on a postage stamp while still alive.
Nine years after the fact, her former aides Lunga Williams and Trevor Tambo have, in an exclusive interview with the Mail & Guardian, recounted how the South African Post Office stamp came to be – and how it was delivered to her bedside in Milpark Hospital in 2017, a year before her death.
The stamp, designed against a bright orange background, features a radiant, smiling Madikizela-Mandela with a black afro hairstyle. In white lettering it reads: “Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. A story of struggle and courage.”
A towering figure in South Africa’s liberation history, Madikizela-Mandela played a pivotal role in sustaining resistance against apartheid for 27 years while her then-husband Nelson Mandela and fellow leaders were imprisoned on Robben Island.
Alongside ANC leader Oliver Tambo, who operated in exile, she became one of the movement’s most visible and defiant symbols.
Known widely as the “Mother of the Nation,” she endured detention, torture and forced banishment under apartheid, emerging as an enduring emblem of resistance against white minority rule.
Yet, when first approached with the idea of being honoured on a postage stamp while still alive, she was uncertain.
Recounting the moment, Williams said they had gone to her Soweto home to present the proposal. “Nervous on whether she would like the idea, we sat with her at her Soweto home.
“Here was a woman who had sacrificed everything for this country. We presented the idea of the stamp – an innovative way to honour her while she was still alive.”
At first, she was quiet. Then came her response: “Why me, I am alive. There are so many others deserving this – Oliver Tambo, Thabo Mbeki, Sophie de Bruyn, Brigalia Bam, Richard Maponya and Gary Player.”
Williams said they reassured her: ‘Mama, you are not taking anything away from them. You are opening a door.’
“She thought for a long time, before giving us her blessings. We left her house that day with no stamp – just an idea.”
Williams said the initiative was driven by conviction rather than institutional backing. “We were just two ordinary South Africans. No organisation, funding or connections, we simply believed that Mama Winnie deserved to be honoured while she was still alive.”
The proposal was submitted through the South African Post Office’s Philatelic Services, the division responsible for stamp design, production and sales.
“They guided us. They told us that requests for stamp issues come through the Communications Minister’s office. So our proposal went through Philatelic, via the Minister’s office, to the Post Office,” Williams said.
“They were the go-between, between us and Mama Winnie – between an idea and a stamp. We were lucky that they listened and believed in the concept. Nine months later, after rigorous engagement, the stamp was approved. We are still grateful that they did.”
The stamp was designed in-house by Rachel-Mari Ackermann of Philatelic Services. “She worked with us. She went through thousands of photographs. She found the right image. She captured Mama Winnie’s strength, her dignity, her humanity.”
It was officially issued on 26 September 2017, Madikizela-Mandela’s 81st birthday. “She was alive and happily held her stamp on the day she was born,” said Williams.
Plans for a public launch, however, never materialised. Williams said the decision was guided by her deteriorating health.
“Mama’s ill health was the main reason the stamp was never launched. She was in and out of hospital, fighting — not just for herself but for her dignity, her peace, her final years.”
“A public launch while she was so unwell did not feel right. So we waited. The Post Office understood and respected her condition.”
After her death, the stamp remained largely unseen in public circulation. “The stamp sat for nine years,” Williams said. He added that any future decision to formally launch it now rests with the Post Office, which is currently under business rescue.
“They are the custodian of the stamp. Whatever they decide to do is their decision. We do not presume to tell them what to do.”
“But the truth is this: Mama’s ill health was the main reason the stamp was never launched. Then she passed. The stamp sat for nine years.”
Still, Williams said the gesture remains meaningful regardless of what happens next.
“If they do not, we will still be grateful that Mama Winnie held her stamp, smiled, and said: ‘This is bigger than big.’
“Our job was to conceive the idea, get her blessing and deliver the stamp to her while she was alive.”