One of the forces that brought down the apartheid system in South Africa – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – will tour the territory next month.
The 65-year-old political activist is tentatively scheduled to spend a week on St. Croix starting Feb. 23 and then four days on St. Thomas to highlight Black History Month, according to Shelley Moorhead, coordinator of the tour. Following her visit to the territory, Madikizela-Mandela will move on to the U.S. mainland.
Madikizela-Mandela’s time in the territory will include a series of rallies and forums. She is tentatively scheduled to give a public address on St. Croix on Feb. 26.
It will be Madikizela-Mandela’s first visit to the Virgin Islands, and it couldn’t come at a more timely period in the territory’s recent history, Moorhead said. Considering the territory's economic state and the ensuing effect on the community, he said Madikizela-Mandela’s decades-long efforts not only to topple South Africa’s apartheid government but also to advocate for children and women’s rights makes her an ideal person to speak to Virgin Islanders.
"Winnie was a key player in the destruction of apartheid. That’s the spirit she brings," Moorehead said. "If she can do that she can inspire us to do anything."
Apartheid was a policy of legal racial segregation put in place by the minority, white-led governments in South Africa for nearly 45 years. Madikizela-Mandela’s involvement in the liberation struggle began in the 1950s and then accelerated after she married Nelson Mandela, a lawyer and political activist. Shortly thereafter, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for his work, which Winnie continued. She herself was imprisoned for several years, including being held in solitary confinement for a year and a half from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
"Above all, I became politically conscious through the research I had carried out in Alexandra township to establish the rate of infantile mortality – it was 10 deaths in every 1,000 births," Madikizela-Mandela said about her time as the first black medical social worker at Baragwanath Hospital on the African National Congress’ Web site.
Moorhead, who met Madikizela-Mandela through his position at Business Systems Integrated International, an African development firm, said her efforts have made her an icon not only on the African continent but throughout the world. That, he said, makes her a perfect person to illustrate Black History Month for the territory.
"She’s known throughout the world as the Mother of Africa. She’s a living legend," Moorhead said, adding that her focus is now on promoting the rights of children and women.
Madikizela-Mandela’s life hasn’t been without its share of adversity, some of which her supporters contend was politically motivated. In 1988 she was implicated in an incident in which her bodyguards beat four young black men, one of whom died in the Mandela home. In 1993 she successfully appealed the assault charge, but a kidnapping conviction was upheld. The court, however, waived her prison term and instead ordered her to pay fines.
In December 1993, Madikizela-Mandela was elected president of the ANC's Women's League. In 1994, Nelson Mandela, who became the South African president after being released from prison in 1990, appointed Madikizela-Mandela deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology. She held this post until April 1995.
The Mandelas were divorced in March 1996. After the divorce, she readopted her maiden name and is commonly known as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Moorhead said corporate sponsorship for Madikizela-Mandela’s visit is welcomed. He noted that the entertainer Sinbad’s festival held on St. Thomas two years ago garnered both private and public monetary support.
"This event is as important, if not more important, for the people of the Virgin Islands," Moorhead said, adding that he expects international media attention from the visit. "What it aims to do is uplift us."
He urged interested businesses to contact him at usvimandela@yahoo.com.
"We have a living legend in our midst," Moorhead said. "And she ought to be celebrated."
