Obituary: Winnie Mandela Dead at 81.
Dennie’s Elegy To Winnie Madikizela Mandela
You stood up for oppressed South Africans ….
Even if tongue is afrikaans …
Against the racist vagabonds
You never compromised your lot
Giving the struggle all you got ….
Now that you have passed …
We say adios comrade you had a blast ….
You fought to the bitter end …
Black dignity you never failed to defend
The racists with their guns and bayonets ..
Committed crimes of regrets …
They slaughtered the unarmed
Many innocent lives …. harmed
Bloodshed they did ignore
Bodies piled up for sure …
They were massacred by score
In the townships they ran havoc
The state murderers ran a mock
Who can forget Sharpe ville?
It was a killing field at will …
The weaponless did no crime
Even as they lived in grime
Alas! No one served any time
They enacted laws of distaste
To keep non whites in their place
These laws were a disgrace
The Population Registration Act
And Group Areas Act ..
An undisputed Apartheid fact …
It was a murderous hit team
State terror prop… their regime
Apartheid had to be defeated .. To jubilation this was greeted
Free, free … Free at last …
Mandela’s release was the cast
They toppled the outlaws …
White rule came crashing …
Out with black bashing …
A real hope for prosperity …
To coloureds hope of new dignity
No to extra-judicial in … Soweto
And onslaught in the ghetto …
This was a new day …
Truth and Reconciliation way
Bible “I am the way, the truth ….
the light .. ”
My way … you will be right …
Commentary
Winnie was criminally charged
She pleaded innocent of card
Oh! You failed to say good bye
We cannot understand why?
As a social worker you served
Accolades to you well deserved
Alas! Winnie’s transition …
This is indeed a sad occasion
A time to celebrate a heroine …
For a life that did beam ….
Years 38 … wed Nelson Mandela A union of regrets … no shame …
Alas! You kept his surname
Stood by him during trauma
Unfortunately you got a divorce This never made you course ….
You courted controversy …
Supported neck-lacing atrocity
An acceptable policy …
Police Informants a setback …
But neck-lacing a low down act
Such we cannot defend …
Cruelty we will ever condemn …
Never scoring by any means …
Such conduct surely demeans
Oftentimes went to gail …
Yet you never grew pale …
You never failed to fight …
Nor did you take flight …
Instead you stood up …
Dumped garbage from your cup
She stood firm …always feared
Winnie, oftentimes revered … Labeled “Mother of the Nation”
A most fitting designation …
When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years she continued the anti-Apartheid struggle and was jailed on several occasions in relation to this struggle. She never gave up the fight.
Personal
It was unfortunate that six years after Mandela’s release from prison 1990 they divorced. Nelson Mandela did remarry. Despite this break up Winnie never dropped her husband’s name and they maintained cordial relations.
Will Winnie be accorded an official funeral? We hope so. It would be a fitting tribute for her work to unshackle South Africa from the clutches of racists.
Winnie in her own words?
“I was thinking of fighting for my country. “
Reactions To Winnie’s Death
PM Holness said: “She was a symbol of struggle …”
“South Africa is indebted to her” asserts: Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, Culture Minister.
Damian Crawford: “I am grateful for Winnie …grateful for what she was able to achieve for blacks” Opposition Spokesman on Culture.
“She was unflinching in her struggle” …. Dr. Peter. Phillips, Opposition Leader.
Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior International Correspondent & Photojournalist for Vision Newspaper Canada.
