South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said a memorial service will be held for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on April 11, and a state funeral will take place in Johannesburg on April 14.
The ex-wife of South Africa’s first black president, the late Nelson Mandela died on Monday aged 81.
South Africa was in mourning after the death of the anti-apartheid icon. “Hundreds of red-clad supporters of the radical opposition Economic Freedom Fighters marched to Madikizela-Mandela’s home in the Johannesburg township of Soweto on Tuesday to pay homage to “the Mother of the Nation,’’ television footage showed.
Julius Malema, who heads the EFF, was once a staunch member of the ruling African National Congress party, to which Nelson Mandela and his ex-wife Madikizela-Mandela belonged, but remained friends with the latter after quitting to form his own party.
Malema visited the home in Soweto, lauding Madikizela-Mandela’s contribution to South Africa’s liberation struggle, and noting that the EFF, unlike the ANC, were “never ashamed of her.”
Madikizela-Mandela was a controversial figure, at one time afforded heroine status for her courage during Mandela’s 27-year incarceration, but later demonised for how far she was prepared to go in the struggle for liberation. (NAN)
