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A leader is one who stands out; has the capacity to motivate; to influence and to guide. There are different levels of leadership, and every one at some stage in life is a leader – having someone who admires him/her. A leader is a person with a vision and a goal. A leader is a person who posses a great commanding authority and charisma. If these are the qualities that exemplify true and good leaders, then Winnie Mandela is an epitome of leadership.
Winnie Mandela’s extraordinary life has been one of great struggle. For most of her adult life, Winnie Mandela has had to endure a forced separation from her husband, ANC’s President, Nelson Mandela, and many others whom she loved.
Winnie in her early life recognized the hardships of her people and saw the need to change these conditions. Winnie Mandela stated, "It was while working as the first black medical social worker at Baragwanath Hospital that I started to become politicized. I started to realize the abject poverty under which most people were forced to live, the appalling conditions created by the inequalities of the system."
The apartheid system was in place in South Africa from before Winnie was born to the late 1990’s. It was a law that was unfair to black people because it limited their civil rights. They could not vote and could not obtain proper jobs. Blacks had to endure many other things like bad housing (slums without electricity or pluming). Black people were also arrested a lot and put in really bad prisons for no good reasons!
Winnie Mandela's involvement in the South African liberation struggle dates to the '50s. Below are a few of the major events that marked Winnie Mandela’s leadership.
Winnie Mandela's courage and leadership abilities have triumphed over years of political harassment, severe personal pain and a wave of media controversy.
There are many people around the globe who view Nelson Mandela as the true hero. The man who fought the apartheid system in South Africa. But who is this man called Nelson Mandela? He is a man who was held prisoner by the South African Apartheid regime for 27 long years. However, Nelson Mandela was not alone in jail. He was not the only anti-apartheid warrior behind bars for a protracted period. Why is Nelson Mandela the only name that remains a global phenomenon today, when no one can remember the names of any of his associates? The answer is simple: because none of those other long-suffering political prisoners had a wife called Winnie Mandela!! If Winnie had been content to remain silent while Nelson was in prison, he would like all of his associates be forgotten. Winnie Mandela refused to pretend that the system was right. She continued the struggle and did what her husband could not do from behind bars. She held many demonstrations in his name, hailing, “Free Nelson Mandela!!” She also sought and attained global attention. Soon the world began to recognize the apartheid system as being wrong and took steps to make it right. The pressures from the outside world lead to Nelson Mandela’s eventual release from prison. He soon became South Africa’s most celebrated president. Nelson became Nelson Mandela, a truly international anti-apartheid martyr, because Winnie effectively marketed his image and his identity. And she did this throughout his long prison term, while herself battling apartheid; leading her people up front; negotiating and fighting; creating the Nelson Mandela brand equity and raising a family, all at the same time.
Winnie Mandela was and still remains the woman behind the struggle. She saw an injustice and sought to correct it. Not by sitting in jail, and refusing numerous possibilities of parole, but by fighting on the front lines. She motivated her people to action, and put herself in great danger in an effort to change a cruel system. She is the true sacrifice; the great leader of the ANC and the ANCWL; the great leader of the South African people. Winnie Mandela is one of the greatest and most forgotten leader and heroine of the African world.
