MANDELA, WINNIE

born 1934/36?, Pondoland district, Transkei, S.Af. original name Nomzamo Winifred, original Xhosa name Nkosikazi Nobandle Nomzamo Madikizela South African social worker and black activist, the second wife of Nelson Mandela. The Mandelas separated in 1992 after her questionable behaviour and unrestrained militancy alienated fellow antiapartheid activists, including Nelson. The daughter of a history teacher, Nomzamo Winifred attended high school and moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study pediatric social work. She met Mandela in 1956, became his devoted coworker, and married him in 1958. After the start of her husband's long imprisonment (196290), Winnie Mandela was banned and for years underwent almost continual harassment by the South African government and its security forces; she spent 17 months in jail in 196970 and lived in internal exile from 1977 to 1985. During these years she did social and educational work and became a heroine of the antiapartheid movement. Her reputation was seriously marred in 198889, however, when she and her bodyguards were linked with the beating and kidnapping of four black youths, one of whom was murdered by her chief bodyguard. After Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Winnie initially shared in his political activities and trips abroad. In May 1991 she was sentenced to six years in prison upon her conviction for the kidnapping, but the sentence was later reduced to a fine. She made a political comeback in 1993 with her election to the presidency of the African National Congress Women's League, and in 1994 she was appointed deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology in South Africa's first multiracial government, which was headed by her husband. Winnie Mandela continued to provoke controversy by her attacks on the government and her strident appeals to radical young black followers, however, and in 1995 Nelson Mandela expelled her from his cabinet. She and Nelson separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996.