Winnie Mandela To Receive Befitting State Funeral

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid campaigner, will be honoured with a state funeral later this month, South Africa’s president has revealed.

Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement on Monday evening after paying a condolence visit to Madikizela-Mandela’s home in Johannesburg’s Soweto township.

The funeral will be on 14 April, with an official memorial service three days earlier.

In a televised tribute, Mr Ramaphosa called Madikizela-Mandela a “champion of justice and equality” whose “dedication to the plight of her people gained her the love and the respect of the nation”.

“For many years‚ she bore the brunt of the senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism and fortitude,” he said. “Despite the hardship she faced‚ she never doubted that the struggle for freedom and democracy would triumph and succeed.

“She remained throughout her life a tireless advocate for the dispossessed and the marginalised. She was the voice for the voiceless.”