African leaders mourn Winnie Mandela

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG

African leaders have expressed their condolences following the passing of former South African anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who died on Monday aged 81.

“Very sorry to hear about the death of comrade Winnie Mandela. I salute her contribution to the resistance in South Africa, especially during the time when Nelson Mandela was in prison,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni wrote in his official twitter account.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said the entire African union family joined the continent in mourning the passing of Winnie Madikazela-Mandela.

Mahamat said Mandela would “forever be remembered as a global icon, a fearless campaigner who sacrificed much of her life for freedom in South Africa and for women everywhere.”

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta wrote in his official twitter account that he was saddened by the news of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s passing. “We have lost a heroine and a liberator.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari described Mandela’s death as “a huge loss to Africa”, according to the twitter account of the Nigerian presidency.

Madikizela-Mandela passed on Monday after a long illness that saw her in and out of hospital since the start of the year.

She was the ex-wife of the late Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president. She was one of the country’s greatest icons in the struggle against apartheid.

Her activism and resistance to apartheid landed her in jail on numerous occasions.

According to her family, “she kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one of its most recognizable faces.”

In a statement, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa described her as “a voice for the voiceless”.

He announced that she would be laid to rest on April 14 in a state funeral.