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SA needs more women like Winnie-Madikizela Mandela

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A crowd gathers around Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Picture: David Turnley / corbis / VCG / Getty Images
A crowd gathers around Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Picture: David Turnley / corbis / VCG / Getty Images

Whether young or old, South Africa’s women need to shout out to the world: I am woman, hear me roar

South Africa and its communities are crying out for brave female leaders – not necessarily political – who can face fearlessly any politician, councillor or community leader and warn and speak to them truthfully without compromising their stance or their rights as women.

One such individual who did that courageously was Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela.

She was not only a politician but a mother and nurturer, pragmatist and activist, nation-builder and unifier-mobiliser.

Although she died two years ago on April 2 2018, the gap in leadership is still felt in civic society, as well as in the broader politics of the country.

Her character and personality were shaped by a motley crew that affected countless droves of black men and women of her era.

What she did and stood for is attributed to the many societal stages she went through in her life as a human being, woman and black person.

For instance, the historical responsibilities on her shoulders threw her into the deep end and made her realise that she was faced with two options: either drown in her sufferings and hardships, or turn them into challenges, sail through and emerge as a conqueror.

Read: Mama Winnie gets resurrected, redeemed in new book

Although it is laudable to be a person of erudition or an academic, Madikizela-Mandela did not rely on that; she had a rare leadership quality of knowing what to do, when to it and how to do it.

When that moment knocked on her consciousness, she always stood up immediately and faced any challenge head-on, instead of shifting the blame or expecting someone to execute the task at hand.

This rare leadership quality prompted countless young people to swarm to her house like bees whenever they were confronted with hardships.

Madikizela-Mandela would listen to them with her ears and her heart, while they expressed their frustrations throughout the night until dawn the next day.

At the end of the day, she churned solutions and encouraged people of all ages to face the harsh realities surrounding them instead of pretending that they did not exist.

The #FeesMustFall campaign, the effects of which reached every nook and cranny of the country, as well as social structures, is a good example.

She was vocal in telling the governing party, the ANC, and, in particular, Blade Nzimande, the minister of higher education, that a balanced approach and realistic solution was needed to tackle the elephant in the room.

South Africa cries out for a fearless woman with an independent mind like Madikizela-Mandela.

In the first wave of xenophobic attacks in 2008, she was the only woman in the ANC and from other societal circles who stood up and quelled the fires of hatred and animosity.

She single-handedly went to Alexandra when ANC leaders took cover behind busy and taxing schedules.

She took one step further and organised blankets and groceries, including big bags of mealiemeal and beans, for those in trouble.

Nobody understood how she succeeded – within such a short space of time – in organising donors and businesspeople to extend a helping hand.

Whenever South Africa’s Rome was burning, she did not fiddle.

Instead, she came out as a strong woman among men whose knees trembled like shaking reeds.

“I fail to understand why, after 20 years of liberation, there are people still living in shacks with no basic needs such as electricity, running water and tarred streets.
Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela

When Thabo Mbeki supporters advised him to stand for a third term as ANC party leader and Jacob Zuma followers encouraged him take Mbeki head-on at the 2007 Polokwane elective conference, Madikizela-Mandela stood firm and strongly advised that these individuals should not contest elections but instead a neutral candidate would be most appropriate.

She warned that should either of the two win the presidential elections, the ANC would be divided from the top to the bottom.

History proved her right again when she stated that it would take a lifetime effort to cement those cracks.

Madikizela-Mandela used her experience as a political activist to rally support and work for the people of this country, not only within ANC circles.

Her motherhood qualities and feminine instincts always reminded her that poverty has no political affiliations, ignorance knows no boundaries of gender and societal problems, and hardships could not be solved within party lines.

She warned many leaders within the ANC, who thought of the country as the promised land, that this was far from the truth.

She would say without camouflaging her deep frustration: “I fail to understand why, after 20 years of liberation, there are people still living in shacks with no basic needs such as electricity, running water and tarred streets.

Can we say boldly that we in government and running the country [are successful] when there are such high numbers of our peoplestill unemployed under our watch as the ANC?”

Winnie Mandela
Mam’ Winnie. Picture: Supplied

Indeed, South Africa needs more Madikizela-Mandelas who will be prepared to lead this country and serve people instead of remaining trapped in the excitement cloud of being chauffeured in a convoy of BMWs with blue lights and remaining a contingent of unapproachable officials who claim to represent the aspirations and dreams of the poorest of the poor.

This country needs leaders who will take off their political caps and see children and youth as young people and not as the youth of the ANC.

South Africa needs women who will not be invited to help provide a needy girl with sanitary towels and other toiletries, but someone who is forever prepared to invest in life behind the scenes without an insatiable hunger for media attention.

A woman’s role in every society and country is like the expanse of a sea of opportunities which need to be used in nation-building initiatives.

Every woman is endowed with rare capabilities and natural intelligence to do within a fraction of a second what could take a man long and winding hours to achieve. Women understand the problems of human life far better that male politicians.

No one expects women to be Madikizela-Mandela.

But it would be wise to learn one or two things from her life activities and what she stood for without ever compromising her activities and her callings.

One of Madikizela-Mandela’s greatest strengths was that she did not only live among her people, but suffered and cried with them.

Although she died two years ago on April 2 2018, the gap in leadership is still felt in civic society, as well as in the broader politics of the country.

She was not living on another planet and this helped her remain able to speak their language, which enabled her to know exactly whether they were pinched by the left or right shoe.

These experiences made it very easy to find a common solution.

More than any time before, this country needs female leaders – including the young and old – who will take Madikizela-Mandela’s struggle for human development one step further without preaching party politics.

Indeed, Madikizela-Mandela was a great woman and a reliable leader. People could count on her throughout – day or night.

Martin Luther King Jr’s words seemingly echoed endlessly in Madikizela-Mandela’s ears: “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve.

You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

Nkosi is a freelance journalist and writer based in Durban


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