Latest news with #Madikizela-Mandela
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
EMBO festival to celebrate Winnie Madikizela-Mandela through music, culture and debate
Soweto is about to come alive with the rhythms of resistance and the power of voice as the City of Johannesburg prepares to host the EMBO Festival, a two-day celebration honouring the legacy of one of South Africa's most iconic freedom fighters — Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Taking place on June 7 at the Soweto Theatre, this festival is more than just a cultural event: it's a bold reimagining of how history can be remembered, retold and reclaimed. This year's theme places Madikizela-Mandela's Xhosa heritage and fearless activism at the centre of a powerful programme that fuses debate, live music and historical reflection. The event will feature artists such as Medudutsane Basadi, Lungiswa Plaatjies and Mr Vee Sholo . EMBO, meaning 'origin' or 'source,' is a project with a purpose: to move the stories of African heroes from the margins into the heart of public consciousness. Through an Afrocentric lens, the festival aims to unearth histories that have been overshadowed by colonial narratives, presenting them in vibrant and meaningful ways to a new generation.
Eyewitness News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Madikizela-Mandela helped the former president survive 27 years behind bars: Malema
JOHANNESBURG - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Leader Julius Malema says that if it were not for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela might not have survived his 27 years behind bars. Speaking at the party's Freedom Day rally in Brandfort, in the Free State, on Sunday, Malema paid tribute to the late struggle icon. This comes as the country commemorates its first democratic election, held on this day, 31 years ago. Malema praised Madikizela-Mandela for keeping Mandela's name and the liberation struggle alive during apartheid. ALSO READ: Malema calls on nation to reflect on true meaning of freedom He addressed a sea of red at the Majwemasweu sports facility just across her former home, where she was banished under apartheid rule. Forced by the regime to leave Johannesburg, Madikizela-Mandela was relocated to what was then known as the Orange Free State. Despite her banishment, she continued political activism while Mandela served time from 1962 to 1990. The EFF leader said that Madikizela-Mandela's role in the country's journey to freedom deserves to be celebrated. "If it were not for Winnie Mandela, the man Nelson Mandela might not have survived the 27 years of his imprisonment. She kept his name alive, she kept the struggle burning, she ensured that the world never forgot Robben Island."
Voice of America
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Voice of America
Play about Winnie Mandela explores Black women's apartheid struggles
A new play about anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela seeks to highlight the struggles of Black women in South Africa who had to wait years for their husbands' return from exile, prison or faraway work during decades of white minority rule. The play about the late former wife of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president, is adapted from the novel The Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele. It explores themes of loneliness, infidelity and betrayal. At the height of apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela was one of the most recognizable faces of South Africa's liberation struggle while her husband and other freedom fighters spent decades in prison. That meant constant harassment by police. At one point, she was banished from her home in Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg and forcefully relocated to Brandfort, a small rural town she had never visited nearly 350 kilometers away. Even after she walked hand-in-hand with her newly freed husband in 1990 and raised her clenched fist, post-apartheid South Africa was tumultuous for her. Madikizela-Mandela, who died in 2018 aged 81, was accused of kidnapping and murdering people she allegedly suspected of being police informants under apartheid. She also faced allegations of being unfaithful to Mandela during his 27 years in prison. Those controversies ultimately led to her divorce from Mandela, while their African National Congress political party distanced itself from her. The isolation and humiliation inspired Ndebele to write about Madikizela-Mandela for South Africa's post-apartheid generations. "How can they implicate Winnie in such horrendous events? She is the face of our struggle," Ndebele's character, played by South African actor Les Nkosi, wonders as he describes his thoughts upon hearing the news of the ANC distancing itself. "The announcement invokes in me a moral anguish from which I'm unable to escape. Is she a savior or a betrayer to us?" A key scene addresses Madikizela-Mandela's appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body formed to investigate human rights abuses during apartheid. She denied murder and kidnapping allegations and declined a request to apologize to families of alleged victims. "I will not be the instrument that validates the politics of reconciliation, because the politics of reconciliation demands my annihilation. All of you have to reconcile not with me, but the meaning of me. The meaning of me is the constant search for the right thing to do," she says in a fictional monologue in the novel. The play also reflects how the Mandelas' divorce proceedings played out in public, with intimidate details of their marriage and rumors of her extramarital affair. For the play's director, Momo Matsunyane, it was important to reflect the role of Black women in the struggle against apartheid who also had to run their households and raise children, often in their husbands' long absence. "It's also where we are seeing Black women be open, vulnerable, sexual and proud of it, not shying away. I think apartheid managed to dismantle the Black family home in a very terrible way. How can you raise other Black men and women when our household is not complete?" Matsunyane said. In the play, one Black woman tells a group of friends how her husband ended their marriage when he returned home after 14 years abroad studying to be a doctor and found she had given birth to a child who was now 4 years old. Another woman tells the same group — who call themselves "Ibandla Labafazi Abalindileyo" (Organization of Women in Waiting in the isiXhosa language) — that her husband returned from many years in prison but left her to start a new family with a white woman. Madikizela-Mandela, played by Thembisa Mdoda, gets to answer questions about her life and the decisions she made during an encounter with the women. The play, which also draws on the protest music of that period, opened at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg and will run until March 15.
The Independent
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
A South African play about Winnie Madikizela-Mandela explores Black women's long wait for absent men
A new play about anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela seeks to highlight the struggles of Black women in South Africa who had to wait years for their husbands' return from exile, prison or faraway work during decades of white minority rule. The play about the late former wife of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president, is adapted from the novel 'The Cry of Winnie Mandela' by Njabulo Ndebele. It explores themes of loneliness, infidelity and betrayal. At the height of apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela was one of the most recognizable faces of South Africa's liberation struggle while her husband and other freedom fighters spent decades in prison. That meant constant harassment by police. At one point, she was banished from her home in Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg and forcefully relocated to Brandfort, a small rural town she had never visited nearly 350 kilometers (217 miles) away. Even after she walked hand-in-hand with her newly freed husband in 1990 and raised her clenched fist, post-apartheid South Africa was tumultuous for her. Madikizela-Mandela, who died in 2018 aged 81, was accused of kidnapping and murdering people she allegedly suspected of being police informants under apartheid. She also faced allegations of being unfaithful to Mandela during his 27 years in prison. Those controversies ultimately led to her divorce from Mandela, while their African National Congress political party distanced itself from her. The isolation and humiliation inspired Ndebele to write about Madikizela-Mandela for South Africa's post-apartheid generations. 'How can they implicate Winnie in such horrendous events? She is the face of our struggle," Ndebele's character, played by South African actor Les Nkosi, wonders as he describes his thoughts upon hearing the news of the ANC distancing itself. "The announcement invokes in me a moral anguish from which I'm unable to escape. Is she a savior or a betrayer to us?' A key scene addresses Madikizela-Mandela's appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body formed to investigate human rights abuses during apartheid. She denied murder and kidnapping allegations and declined a request to apologize to families of alleged victims. 'I will not be the instrument that validates the politics of reconciliation, because the politics of reconciliation demands my annihilation. All of you have to reconcile not with me, but the meaning of me. The meaning of me is the constant search for the right thing to do,' she says in a fictional monologue in the novel. The play also reflects how the Mandelas' divorce proceedings played out in public, with intimidate details of their marriage and rumors of her extramarital affair. For the play's director, Momo Matsunyane, it was important to reflect the role of Black women in the struggle against apartheid who also had to run their households and raise children, often in their husbands' long absence. 'It's also where we are seeing Black women be open, vulnerable, sexual and proud of it, not shying away. I think apartheid managed to dismantle the Black family home in a very terrible way. How can you raise other Black men and women when our household is not complete?" Matsunyane said. In the play, one Black woman tells a group of friends how her husband ended their marriage when he returned home after 14 years abroad studying to be a doctor and found she had given birth to a child who was now 4 years old. Another woman tells the same group — who call themselves 'Ibandla Labafazi Abalindileyo' (Organization of Women in Waiting in the isiXhosa language) — that her husband returned from many years in prison but left her to start a new family with a white woman. Madikizela-Mandela, played by Thembisa Mdoda, gets to answer questions about her life and the decisions she made during an encounter with the women. The play, which also draws on the protest music of that period, opened at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg and will run until March 15. ___
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A South African play about Winnie Madikizela-Mandela explores Black women's long wait for absent men
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A new play about anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela seeks to highlight the struggles of Black women in South Africa who had to wait years for their husbands' return from exile, prison or faraway work during decades of white minority rule. The play about the late former wife of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president, is adapted from the novel 'The Cry of Winnie Mandela' by Njabulo Ndebele. It explores themes of loneliness, infidelity and betrayal. At the height of apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela was one of the most recognizable faces of South Africa's liberation struggle while her husband and other freedom fighters spent decades in prison. That meant constant harassment by police. At one point, she was banished from her home in Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg and forcefully relocated to Brandfort, a small rural town she had never visited nearly 350 kilometers (217 miles) away. Even after she walked hand-in-hand with her newly freed husband in 1990 and raised her clenched fist, post-apartheid South Africa was tumultuous for her. Madikizela-Mandela, who died in 2018 aged 81, was accused of kidnapping and murdering people she allegedly suspected of being police informants under apartheid. She also faced allegations of being unfaithful to Mandela during his 27 years in prison. Those controversies ultimately led to her divorce from Mandela, while their African National Congress political party distanced itself from her. The isolation and humiliation inspired Ndebele to write about Madikizela-Mandela for South Africa's post-apartheid generations. 'How can they implicate Winnie in such horrendous events? She is the face of our struggle," Ndebele's character, played by South African actor Les Nkosi, wonders as he describes his thoughts upon hearing the news of the ANC distancing itself. "The announcement invokes in me a moral anguish from which I'm unable to escape. Is she a savior or a betrayer to us?' A key scene addresses Madikizela-Mandela's appearance before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body formed to investigate human rights abuses during apartheid. She denied murder and kidnapping allegations and declined a request to apologize to families of alleged victims. 'I will not be the instrument that validates the politics of reconciliation, because the politics of reconciliation demands my annihilation. All of you have to reconcile not with me, but the meaning of me. The meaning of me is the constant search for the right thing to do,' she says in a fictional monologue in the novel. The play also reflects how the Mandelas' divorce proceedings played out in public, with intimidate details of their marriage and rumors of her extramarital affair. For the play's director, Momo Matsunyane, it was important to reflect the role of Black women in the struggle against apartheid who also had to run their households and raise children, often in their husbands' long absence. 'It's also where we are seeing Black women be open, vulnerable, sexual and proud of it, not shying away. I think apartheid managed to dismantle the Black family home in a very terrible way. How can you raise other Black men and women when our household is not complete?" Matsunyane said. In the play, one Black woman tells a group of friends how her husband ended their marriage when he returned home after 14 years abroad studying to be a doctor and found she had given birth to a child who was now 4 years old. Another woman tells the same group — who call themselves 'Ibandla Labafazi Abalindileyo' (Organization of Women in Waiting in the isiXhosa language) — that her husband returned from many years in prison but left her to start a new family with a white woman. Madikizela-Mandela, played by Thembisa Mdoda, gets to answer questions about her life and the decisions she made during an encounter with the women. The play, which also draws on the protest music of that period, opened at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg and will run until March 15. ___ AP Africa news: Mogomotsi Magome, The Associated Press
