New Netflix documentary reexamines Winnie Mandela’s divisive legacy

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is among the most revered —and controversial — ladies in South African historical past, however to her grandchildren the anti-apartheid icon was at all times simply their beloved ‘Large Mommy.’ 

Now two of Mandela’s granddaughters are reexamining her divisive legacy in a brand new Netflix documentary sequence known as The Trials of Winnie Mandela, at the moment solely out there in Africa.

Within the trailer for the sequence, sisters Princess Swati Dlamini-Mandela and Princess Zaziwe Mandela-Manaway acknowledge they’ve set themselves a tough activity, asking “How do you ask your grandmother, are you a murderer, are you a kidnapper?'” 

However they assume they managed to current an unbiased portrayal of Winnie within the sequence.

“I’m so proud of this work, because it is not just a myopic view of a person that we love, but also who is complex, and has had a complex history,” says Dlamini-Mandela, 47.

Whereas Nelson Mandela turned South Africa’s first Black president and a world icon – having spent 27 years in jail for his position within the combat towards apartheid – his spouse Winnie, who was arguably simply as instrumental in that combat, has been broadly maligned. 

That is as a result of Winnie is accused of encouraging a number of the worst Black-on-Black violence within the townships throughout apartheid within the 1980’s. 

A gang of youths related together with her, known as the Mandela United Soccer Membership, had been accountable for vigilante abductions and killings of these suspected of being authorities informers – even kids.

In 1997, she appeared in entrance of the Reality and Reconciliation Fee established by the brand new authorities to analyze crimes dedicated throughout apartheid.

After being pressed by the Desmond Tutu, who led the fee, she mentioned: “Things went horribly wrong…for that I am deeply sorry.” The fee discovered her “politically and morally accountable” for the crimes dedicated by her gang of bodyguards. 

Despite the fact that the Netflix present is barely being launched now, filming of the documentary began earlier than Winnie’s dying in 2018 aged 81. So she will get to reply for herself.

“Our grandfather’s painted as a saint, and our grandmother’s painted as a sinner,” Dlamini-Mandela says.

“And we ask her that question…what do you think about that? And she says, well, who is anyone to say, whether you’re saint or a sinner, that’s between me and my God.”

What is evident is that Winnie’s dedication to the battle got here at nice private value.

When Mandela was imprisoned, she was left not solely to boost their kids alone, however to hold on his activism – which she did fearlessly.

She turned such a thorn within the aspect of the apartheid state that she was usually focused.

In 1969 she was put in solitary confinement for 491 days and tortured. She says within the documentary of that point: “The 18 months in solitary confinement, it left scars nothing can heal.”

She was jailed quite a few instances within the a long time that adopted, together with her Soweto house regularly raided at midnight. In the end, she was exiled to the distant city of Brandfort, within the Free State, in a harsh try to stifle her affect and activism.

Regardless of the brutal therapy and fixed humiliations, she by no means gave up.

However she was criticized for her growing militancy, even inside her African Nationwide Congress social gathering. Particularly for a speech she gave in 1986 showing to condone the brutal township punishment of “necklacing” used on alleged police collaborators.

In South Africa, “necklacing” was a brutal type of killing during which a automobile tyre was compelled over an individual’s chest and shoulders and set alight.

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She was additionally villainized for alleged romantic affairs whereas her husband was in jail. When Mandela was launched, their marriage faltered, ending in a divorce in 1996 for which she was largely blamed.

Reassessing Winnie via a feminist lens

“I wholeheartedly don’t believe that a male comrade would’ve waited 27 years for a wife’s return. The alleged affair feels like something they used against her in order to vilify her,” says Momo Matsunyane, who directed a latest play in Johannesburg, “The Cry of Winnie Mandela,” which sought to rehabilitate her picture.

In recent times, a brand new technology of younger South Africans like Matsunyane have begun to reassess Winnie’s legacy from a feminist perspective. 

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When she died in 2018, 1000’s mourned all night time exterior her house. There at the moment are t-shirts together with her face on them, avenue murals, and a significant Johannesburg highway named after her. 

“It’s true to say that she may have been involved in some events that occurred that made her seem ruthless,” Matsunyane says.

However she provides it does not need to be a false dichotomy.

“It’s also true that she was fiercely resilient in the face of a greatly violent and inhumane system. She put her life and body on the line for the fight for freedom.”

Apart from her renewed standing as a revolutionary icon, what are her granddaughters’ most cherished reminiscences of her?

“God, there’s so many,” says Mandela-Manaway. “I mean, her cooking for us in the kitchen on Sunday lunches….giving me hugs, giving me advice,  talking to her about anything.”

Regardless of rising up in turbulent instances, the sisters – now each of their late forties – weren’t that politically conscious till they had been younger adults.

“We were kids, so we didn’t realize that we were Nelson and Winnie’s grandchildren,” Mandela-Manaway says. “Not like…we knew that these were political figures who were known across the world. We had no idea.”

However a lot as their mom Zenani – Winnie and Nelson’s first daughter – tried to normalize issues for them, it was an uncommon childhood.

“And we literally were like, we only had each other, because no one wanted to be associated with us,” the sisters say. “Being cool… Mandela became cool after.”

When she died, the hashtag #SheDidn’tDieSheMultiplied trended on South African social media.

“There are a lot of young women who identify with the spirit of Mama Winnie,” says theater director Matsunyane.