On 9 August 2020, South Africa celebrated woman’s day – a public holiday reserved for the commemoration of the same day in 1956 where almost 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws. To celebrate the contribution of these women, we are shining a more nuanced light on a woman who needs very little introduction – Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. A feminist, courageous human being and affectionately known in South Africa as the Mother of the Nation.
Many of us are familiar with the time her husband spent in prison and fewer of us know about her detainment. More broadly, while many of us acknowledge that the struggle against apartheid was challenging, few us have insight into the lived experience of those that waged this fight. In her book, 491 days, Mama Winnie’s journal entries and letters between her and her husband start to paint the picture of the toll this struggle took on her. Below are some quotes that raised our awareness and increased our gratitude for the sacrifice she made for this country. We hope they do the same for you.
On solitary confinement
“Being held incommunicado was the most cruel thing the Nationalists ever did. I’d communicate with the ants; anything that has life. If I had lice I would have even, I would have even nursed them. That’s what this solitary confinement[does]; there is no worse punishment than that. I think you can stand imprisonment of 27 years. You are mixing with the other prisoners, you get your three meals…but with solitary confinement you are not allowed to read, you are not allowed to do anything, you just have yourself.”
On experiencing attacks during her solitary confinement
“It would start off as a blackout although I would be lying flat and slightly propped up. I then felt completely numb, the whole body – I lose complete control over my muscles and struggle to breathe and [have an] irregular heartbeat…I grew afraid to sleep and sat up the whole night.”
On her decision to take her own life
“It suddenly dawned on me that if I took my own life there would be no trial and my colleagues would be saved from the tortuous mental agony of solitary confinement. The long and empty hours tore through the inner core of my soul. There were moments when I got so fed up I banged my head against the cell wall. Physical pain was more tolerable.”
On how the mundane co-existed with the insane
“Am still battling to see you once more darling and how I look forward to it. I have beaten you to it, I have more white hair than you now. The first day I saw a mirror in prison I did not know the woman I was looking at! With white hair at 36? The blue bags beneath the eyes are slowly disappearing.”
This last quote elicited both feelings of happiness and deep sadness. The former because sweet moments shared between two lovers somehow escaped the wrath of apartheid’s cruelty. The latter because the trauma was that severe, aging you far more rapidly and chasing you faster towards your death.
To Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and all the women who marched on 8 August 1956 – thank you, re a leboga, siyabonga, baie dankie and enkosi.
MORERO 