biography
| name: |
Mandela, Winnie
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| |
also Madikizela-Mandela, popular name of Nomzano Zaniewe Winifred Mandela
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pronunciation:
[mandela]
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (1934– )
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| biography:
| Former wife of Nelson Mandela, born in Bizana, E South Africa. After qualifying as a social worker, she married Mandela in 1958. Her first arrest took place three months later, and in 1962 she was banned for the first time. For the next 20 years she was banned, restricted, detained, and jailed a number of times. In 1990, when her husband was released from prison, she took an increasingly prominent role in the African National Congress (ANC), until her conviction on charges of kidnapping and assault. In 1992, the Mandelas divorced. She continued to operate as a militant and maverick figure under ANC colours, making a political comeback in late 1993, and given a role in the 1994 government as deputy minister for arts, culture, science, and technology (dismissed in 1995). A controversial and charismatic figure, she figured prominently in the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997. |
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