The Winnie story won't end
New questions and allegations about Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela have again surfaced. The Winnie story will never end until the truth is revealed. Exhumation of two skeletons recently, one of them perhaps that of Lolo Sono, has reopened a decades old question: was she implicated in murder and in many other human rights violations?
It is clear that the Apartheid government and its successor, the ANC, deliberately under-investigated and under-prosecuted alleged offences by Winnie. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) made the following hugely significant finding:
"Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was politically and morally accountable for the gross violation of human rights committed by the (Football Club)."
The TRC further found:"The Commission was left with the distinct impression that the attorney-general was at pains not to prosecute her...Strategic decisions with regard to the investigation and prosecution of Madikizela-Mandela appear to have been influenced strongly by the political circumstances and sensitivities of the period."
It needs to be emphasised that the TRC did not give Winnie indemnity for her acts and omissions, and indeed she did not at any stage seek indemnity. That being so, there is not now and never was a good reason why she should have escaped prosecution.