Winnie Madikizela Mandela



BBC.UK.com

She is known as the mother of the nation, yes you guessed I am talking about Winnie Madikizela former wife of former President Nelson Mandela. I missed her birthday on the 26th of September 2012, not that I was invited, she is now about 70 years of age and I must say she is aging beautifully, that is just one of the benefits of taking good care of yourself. I thought I should take the time to recognise her as the woman that I think many South African women love, respect, and admire, she is definitely not one to be reckoned with. I remember as a little girl at prime time which is from 19:00pm to 20:00pm where the whole family would be watching the news and waiting for the drama or soapie of the night. I remember always seeing her on the news and most of the time it was not always good news and I think with all the accusations, charges, court cases, appeals and all the divorce must have been the final draw of them all. I mean any woman who gets a divorce just falls apart especially when they have stood with that man through thick and thin and sacrificed a lot for the struggle and after all that it was over. I have to say that I do feel that the party she always represented however was never really there for her and I think then they also contributed in keeping her down. Word is she and her family have been neglected by the ruling party many times and only give the Mandela family attention when there is an agenda. Well why am I not surprised it's very possible I've seen it myself and I do hope those people who do that can just at least remember what SA is all about and where it comes from and they were not the only ones in that struggle, in fact the person who lead them to where they are now is the very same person they are taking for granted and that for me is heartbreaking.

Despite the detains, the troubles and struggles of those times Winnie has always been able to fight back and make great comebacks and no matter how they tried to break her and keep her down she just somehow always found a way of mending herself again and rising never ever gets a final knock out. I really appreciate women such as her as she reminds me of my own mother who is just as strong, it is women like her who make us believe that as women we can make it through anything and that it's never about whether you are a fighting warriors in some war but it's about one believing in what they stand for and no matter how many times you get knocked down you just keep rising up and fighting back ten times better and stronger and even smarter than before. In short it's not about being a war hero it's simply about not giving up. This reminds me of my Preacher who once said life's challenges never end but how lifeless and boring life would be without them. That is what I have seen and experienced myself in my life and looking the my mother and Winnie I admire their strength and courage to keep living on till you reach your final destination and then leave this world having lived your life to the fullest. That is what I am taking with me from Winnie Madikizela Mandela despite all the mishaps don't we all have them anyway.