| Time | Summary | |
| 01:26 | Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela was born to a middle class family in Pondoland in September 1934. At the age of 19 she became the first qualified black social worker in South Africa. In 1957 she met the young Nelson Mandela, then President of the ANC Youth League. They married the following year and had two daughters, Zenani and Zindzi. But after just a few years of marriage Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for high treason and banished to Robben Island. The Mandela mantle then fell onto Winnie’s shoulders. | Full Transcript and References |
| 02:01 | That day is not far when we shall lead you to freedom. Amandla! | Full Transcript |
| 02:13 | After several periods in detention she was banished to Brandfort in the Free State in 1977. In August 1985, after her Brandfort home was bombed, Winnie defied her banning order and returned to her real home in Soweto. In 1986 she formed the Mandela United Football Club. They quickly became very unpopular with the Soweto community. Two years later school children burnt down her Orlando West house in a revenge attack on her football club. Winnie then moved to Diepkloof where things really started falling apart. It seemed as if Winnie felt threatened by the popularity of local Methodist minister, Paul Verryn, whose manse had become a safe haven for many youngsters and activists. According to allegations, before this week’s hearing, she wanted to frame Verryn by claiming that he’d sexually molested some of the boys. She was later convicted of kidnapping four youngsters from the manse and it is widely believed she participated in a vicious assault on them. After this incident, child ...more | Full Transcript |
| 03:22 | That it could even be dreamt that I would be responsible for the murder of a child when I have spent all my life fighting against these injustices, appals me. | Full Transcript |
| 03:39 | She was isolated from her community by the UDF leadership of the time who condemned her behaviour. | Full Transcript |
| 03:45 | We are particularly outraged at her obvious complicity in the recent abductions and assault on young people like Stompie. We believe that had Stompie and his three colleagues not been abducted by Mrs. Mandela’s Football Team, he would have been alive today. The Mass Democratic Movement at this point hereby wishes to distance itself from Mrs. Mandela and her actions. | Full Transcript |
| 04:23 | But Winnie made a comeback after her husband’s release from prison and the return of the exiled ANC leaders. She became the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture but was fired after a clash with the ANC leadership. Her divorce from President Mandela became final in 1996. We are waiting for Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela’s arrival. Then we take you into the hall where our cameras are already set up to record all the drama. | Full Transcript |
| 04:49 | ‘Day one Monday 24 November 1997’ // Order please…Our focus is not a particular individual or group against whom allegations are being made. As always, we are here concerned, primarily for the victims and survivors. I said there will not be a verdict, because we are not a court. We are here, not in order to put anyone in the dock. We are not intent on pillorying, on ridiculing or humiliating anyone. Our objective is to find out the truth in order to assist in the process of healing our land, to promote reconciliation and to ensure that awful things we hear about will not happen again. | Full Transcript |
| 06:21 | From the word go the charges started piling up. The first day’s witnesses implicated Madikizela-Mandela in four serious assaults and six murders. Phumlile Dhlamini accused Madikizela-Mandela of assaulting her whilst she was three months pregnant. She claimed Madikizela-Mandela was unhappy about her relationship with the football club member Shakes Tau. She said Madikizela-Mandela was having a love affair with the same man. | Full Transcript |
| 06:48 | It was Winnie herself who was assaulting me the first time, and when we got to Winnie’s house Winnie personally said to me, guys see what you’re going to do with this one because she doesn’t want to speak the truth, referring to the football club members. They started assaulting me and kicking me in accordance with Winnie’s instructions. | Full Transcript and References |
| 07:15 | My instructions Chairperson, is that the witness is narrating a figment of imagination. // Winnie Mandela knows the inside of my house, because that is where she took me and she knows deep down inside of her that I am not telling any lies. Why would I tell lies about her? | Full Transcript |
| 07:36 | Numsa Tshabalala and Nicodemus Sono accused Madikizela-Mandela of being responsible for the disappearance and likely murder of their sons. Nicodumus Sono says the last time he saw his son was in November 1988 in the presence of Madikizela-Mandela. It is not the first time he begged Madikizela-Mandela for more information about his son. The last time was when he appeared before the Truth Commission’s Human Rights Violations Committee. | Full Transcript and References |
| 08:03 | When we got to my gate the blue kombi was parked a few houses from my street and I went with him to the kombi. When we got to the kombi, he took the driver’s seat and I opened the slide door. These guys who were here moved for me, I got a seat there. Lolo and other young men were at the back of the kombi and Lolo was in the middle. There were two guys having their hands like that to him. // Did you get a good look at your son? // Yes, because when I opened the slide door the light in the kombi went on and I could see Lolo at the back. He was beaten up. His faced was bruised. It was actually puffed, he was like thick as if somebody has beaten him up and crushed him against the wall. // And did Lolo speak to you? // When Lolo tried to speak he was told to shut up by Mrs. Mandela. // Now tell Mr. Sono what did Mrs. Mandela say? // Mrs. Mandela explained to me that Lolo is a spy, so I tried to plead with her. What she said to the driver, she said he must pull off. So, the diver engaged ...more | Full Transcript and References |
| 10:25 | Numsa Tshabalala says her son Sibuniso disappeared shortly after Lolo Sono. // Then he said, if you say Lolo was taken by Winnie Madikizela’s people then probably I will be taken there as well. And we left for work, when we came back Sibuniso was not at home. When Sibuniso had gone, that is after a day, or a day after Sibuniso’s disappearance he phoned and said Mom, I’m with Lolo. But thereafter he couldn’t speak any further because the phone was cut off. // In Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela’s section 29 in camera inquiry she stated that she had no idea who Anthony Sibuniso Tshabalala is. // Winnie knows Sibuniso as well as Lolo. Deep down inside of her she knows that she knows those people. // Has she ever threatened you mam? // Yes I used to see her scaring other people, threatening other people, and it’s the first time that I face Mrs. Mandela. I’m even scared of her, even now. I have been asking Winnie for the past nine years as to where my son is and she used to say ...more | Full Transcript |
| 12:03 | The last witness on Monday was John Morgan. He has known Madikizela-Mandela for more than 30 years and says he has been her driver for ten years. In her Truth Commission hearing behind closed doors last month she claimed she had never employed him. Morgan was the first eye witness to the abduction of the four youngsters from the Methodist Mission House in Soweto in December in 1988. This was where the now famous name of murdered child activist, Stompie Seipei was first mentioned. | Full Transcript |
| 12:34 | After you collected these boys, where did you take them sir? // I took them to Winnie’s house in Diepkloof. The first person who started assaulting was Winnie Mandela, assaulting Stompie Seipei. Her, and the others followed as well assaulting the rest. They will lift them and throw them right in the air and they called that system a jet something, and they will let go of them in the air and they will come fall, drop down on the floor. I was present. I eye witnessed all this. | Full Transcript and References |
| 13:09 | Stompie Seipei’s mother Joyce sat in the audience all day hoping for more answers about her son’s death. She learnt nothing more than gruesome descriptions about the last hours of her son’s life. | Full Transcript |
| 13:20 | Did you see Stompie again sir? // Yes, the following day I saw him. I found him in a deformed state. His face was as round as a football and I tried to help him drink some coffee and feed him bread, as he was not in a position to help himself and I felt pity for the boy. // And when was the next time you saw Stompie sir? // I also saw him on the third day and I found that he was in a critical condition and Dr Asvat said to Mrs. Mandela… Mrs. Mandela asked Asvat to lend his help to the boy and assist him medically. And Asvat refused and said the boy should be sent to hospital. The fourth day I arrived in the morning and they were talking in English. ‘You must go into that back room and go take that dog and go dump it somewhere,’ I don’t know which somewhere … | Full Transcript |
| 14:55 | ‘Day two Tuesday 25 November 1997’ // Tuesday didn’t start on a good note for Madikizela-Mandela. On the second of October this year she held a press conference showing several young men who she said would vouch for her innocence. One of them was Pelo Mekgwe who skipped the country shortly before he had to testify in Madikizela-Mandela’s kidnapping case, but instead of defending her Mekgwe corroborated the evidence by John Morgan of the assault in the Mandela residence on December 29 1989. | Full Transcript |
| 15:20 | And you stated that Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela started hitting you with open hands, with fists and also with a sjambok. Can you confirm that? // It was just claps, open hands only. // These incidents occurred on the 29th of December. Are you saying that Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was present at this stage on the 29th of December at the house? // I said at the beginning that she was the one who started to beat. // Are you aware that Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela said that on the 29th of December she was at Brandfort? // I was aware yes. // What is your comment towards that? // As I said, I don’t think she was not there, because she’s the one who started the beating. // And injuries in your face? // Ja also on my face. // What were the injuries on your back from? // From the assault. // Were you sjambokked on your back? // I was yes. // Were lifted up and dropped from a height? // You are correct. // What was the difference in the allegations against yourself, Lolo, Kenny Kgase and the ...more | Full Transcript and References |
