Five books in honor of Winnie Madikizela Mandela

1) Part of my soul went with him, Winnie Mandela, Anne Benjamin.

This was my first in my collection of Winnie books. I must have read it like four times. It is a powerful little book that packs a punch and chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela in those early years, her journey, her marriage and her political development. She was under virtual house arrest and was forbidden from addressing public gatherings or meet with more than one person at a time and was banned in her own country. This book tells the story of how she met Nelson and how she always had to be taken to safe houses to meet her husband. Winnie also talks extensively about solitary confinement, her visit to her husband at Robben Island and the brutality towards her by the authorities. The book is written from interviews and letters.

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2) 491 days, Prisoner number 1323/69 written by Winnie Mandela.

Forward by Ahmed Kashrad. I bought this book at the Mandela Museum in Soweto. As her husband is sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, his wife Nomzamo Winnie Mandela experiences constant harassment from the apartheid authorities. The longest and most tortuous lasted sixteen months between 12thMay 1969 to 14th September 1970. This little known period is documented in a recovered Prison journal Winnie secretly kept. It tells the story of the trauma of a young mother of two and the brutality of the apartheid regime and Winnie’s defiant spirit.” I was lucky if I got three times a day treatment once a day. I had to literally beg for my tablets from the matrons and wardresses. I just could not sleep even when I got all the tablets sometimes. I was alarmed when I found myself walking in my sleep.” Her insomnia started from here and she never really was able to sleep without pills for most of her life. While in confinement, she tried to commit suicide. 27 years and the apartheid regime tried to destroy her. Always good to put yourself in someone else’s shoes before you judge. Whatever became of Winnie was a creation of the regime. They were afraid of her and truly brutalized her to see if they could get their way. The rest they say is history.

3) Winnie Mandela, A life by Anne Marie du Perez Bezdrob.

This was my second book in my collector’s item. Written by a journalist, this book traces Winnie Mandela’s development from talented and privileged child to dedicated social worker, caring wife and mother and fiery political activist. This is an in-depth biography with an intimate look at Winnie Mandela’s personal and political life. The author takes the reader on a remarkable journey with honesty and understanding to how Winnie became the controversial woman she became under a heartless and brutal regime. A great book that gives you an honest insight into the life of a fascinating woman and an enigma. A must read.

4) The cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo.S. Ndebele.

In this book, a highly acclaimed first novel in 2003, Njabulo focuses on four women over a specific period of time in South Africa waiting for their men to return. Their ordinary private stories are anchored to the more powerful stories of Penelope of ancient Greek Mythology who waited eighteen years while her husband Odysseus was away and Winnie who waited for 27 years. The women question each other about the wait, whether it was worth it and how this has affected them. In haunting conversations with themselves and with each other, they also question Penelope and Winnie Mandela.

5) In the Blink of an Eye, by Eugenia Abu.

The article for New African London titled, Was Winnie a sacrificial lamb, examines the fairness of the couple’s divorce on Winnie and the unfortunate decision to throw off Winnie who had struggled hard to get Nelson released. The article which pretty much believes Winnie deserved better is republished in my 2007 book, In The Blink of an Eye.