(29 Nov 1997) English/Nat
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in Soweto on Saturday to open a museum in the house that she once shared with President Nelson Mandela.
Her visit to the township comes at the end of a turbulent week, during which she appeared before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission - accused of involvement in murder and other human rights abuses.
Tribal dancers greeted Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on her visit to Soweto on Saturday.
But the focus of her trip wasn't ancient tribal history but something much more recent.
She had come to Soweto to inaugurate a new museum set up in the township house that she and her former husband, President Nelson Mandela, had once shared.
The museum will display memorabilia from the Apartheid era when Soweto was a focus for much of the turbulence that swept the country.
Visitors will also have the chance to buy gifts and souvenirs.
At the opening ceremony Winnie was in a jovial mood, joking with reporters but deflecting any mention of the week she has spent in front of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
But referring to her years of struggle against apartheid she said that her memories were often tinged with sadness.
SOUNDBITE:(English)
"This is a family thing. We are here to take a few steps back to our journey of yesterday.
Q: And how do you feel about yesterday?
"I have very pleasant and very hurtful memories."
SUPER CAPTION: Winnie Mandela, former wife of President Mandela
And her troubles are far from over.
She is currently appearing before the Truth Commission on alleged atrocities committed by her bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club.
She was then the wife of imprisoned black-rights activist Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa's president with the end of apartheid in 1994.
Witnesses this week testified about murders, torture and other crimes allegedly committed in the name of black political solidarity.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"And my lawyers yesterday distinctly requested that court, it's not a court, yes, that trial, to subpoena six security branch policemen to come and testify that Richardson was their man, because you heard Fivaz yesterday testifying to that effect that Jerry Richardson is their employee. Now why go and twist that story in the Cape Argus, and say that they have been subpoenaed to confirm whether Winnie Mandela was working for the system. Why do journalists do that?"
SUPER CAPTION: Winnie Mandela, former wife of President Mandela
The comment was a reaction to a newspapers article in the "Saturday Star."
The article reported that the Truth Commission wants to subpoena six former security branch policemen to testify that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela worked for the police.
The chief bodyguard, Jerry Richardson, was convicted of killing 14-year-old Stompie Seipei in 1988 and is serving a life prison sentence.
The same newspaper also carried a story alleging that she and her bodyguards went to big black businessmen demanding money for her campaign for the deputy presidency of the A-N-C.
That article drew an angry response.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Newton, your silly paper, has carried a story that my bodyguards and myself are collecting funds for my campaign, who thumbed (fabricated) that story? You see that is why I do not speak to the press. This is the type of gutter reporting I really cannot live with."
SUPER CAPTION: Winnie Mandela, former wife of President Mandela
Undeterred by the press, the crowds gathered in the streets outside as she unveiled the plaque officially opening the museum.
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20 июл 2015
