OUR RICH HISTORY - WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA INTERVIEW IN AUGUST 1986 --------- AN INTERVIEW TO RE-CALL THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA AT A TIME WHEN SOUTH AFRICANS ARE OBSERVING THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF HER PASSING ON APRIL 2 2018

 

The life and times of one of our freedom leaders, Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, is once again being highlighted. This at a time when South Africans are observing the third anniversary of her passing on April 2 2018 at the age of 81.

The remembrance of her significant contributions to the freedom struggles from the time when her husband, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned on Robben Island and Polsmoor Prison in Cape Town for 26 years, is also being highlighted now when the Johannesburg municipality is discussing a motion to re-name William Nicol Drive in the city after Winnie Mandela.

After she returned from her banishment in the Free State rural town of Brandfort in late 1985, I had the opportunity of interviewing her six months later at her home in Soweto in Johannesburg.  

The struggles at this time were hotting-up and Mrs Mandela was facing increased harassment and intimidation at the hands of the apartheid security branch and third force elements.

In this interview she demonstrated her determination to continue the struggles despite the bannings, restrictions and harassment she was suffering. She also had the strong belief that Nelson Mandela and other leaders would be released to lead the country to a new era of freedom.

She also took a strong stance against Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher who were leaders of the United States and Britain at that time. They refused to support economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

This interview was one of many articles that we at Press Trust of SA News Agency had written on Winnie Madikizela-Mandela over the years of the struggles. I will publish the rest of the articles over the next few weeks.

This particular interview with Mrs Mandela in Soweto in August 1986 was distributed around the world and broadcast on a number of international radio stations. The interview was widely published in several newspapers in India via the Trust of India (PTI).

One article under the headline: “Winnie: If Reagan is a clown, then Thatcher is no better”, was published in the Indian Express on August 21 1986.

The interview, which was published with an introduction, read:

 

 

WINNIE: IF REAGAN IS A CLOWN, THATCHER IS NO BETTER

 

Durban, Aug 21 (PTI):

The leader of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, who has been in prison for the last 22 years, is in high spirits with his commitment to freedom for his people undiminished.

In an interview early this month in Soweto, Mrs Winnie Mandela, wife of the 68-year-old South Africa leader, told the Press Trust of South Africa, that the “22 years he has now spent in prison has not dented him, nor the entire leadership (of the ANC) that is behind bars”.

Asked if her husband felt as strong as ever, Mrs Mandela said:

“There is no difference in the man. He is exactly the same person who was sentenced on June 12, 1964. His spirits are exactly the same. His commitment is exactly the same. There has been no change whatsoever.”

 

QUESTION: Nelson Mandela turned 68 on July 18, 1986. How does he feel spending another birthday behind bars?

ANSWER: It has really not made any difference to him that he has spent another birthday in prison. It was a sacrifice on behalf of the people and as long as the people are not free, events such as his personal birthday have no meaning. What is of meaning is the freedom of the people.

 

Q: Louis le Grange, Minister of Law and Order, recently said that he no longer considers that Mandela is being controlled by communists. Was he ever controlled by communists?

A: I have not the slighted inkling why such a peculiar statement like that was made by that man. I can only attribute it to the lunacy that prevails in those ranks in the Pretoria regime. At no stage was Mandela or any other person in the leadership inside the country or externally were in the control of anyone.

 

Q: We now proceed to President Ronald Reagan of the United States. He has once again not only,  refused to impose economic sanctions against South Africa,  but has also referred to certain elements in the ANC as terrorists. What is your view of President Reagan?

Q: Throughout the years we have come to realise [SG1] that what Reagan says is of no consequence whatsoever. We regard him as the clown he is, the actor he is. He regards the US as his theatre. Reagan has gone out of his way to provoke the oppressed people of this land. He is racist, prescriptive, non-sensical, and devoid of all sensitivity. He is insulting, and we, the oppressed people of this country, have come to the conclusion that the time has come for us to accept the challenge by these western nations that persist in a course we have been telling them that is confrontationist. We are going to accept that challenge.

It is about time that we reviewed the policies of the ANC. It is about time that perhaps we once again looked into the serious question of the multi-nationals that are operating in our country.

 

Q: President Reagan has once again repeated that if sanctions were imposed on the Pretoria Government, the West would be damaging the cause of the black people and the black people would be the first to suffer. Do you agree with his assessment?

 

A: We no longer think it is worth answering that nonsensical argument.

 

Q: President Reagan’s attitude seems to suggest that he is more concerned about the safety and security of the ruling minority than about the black majority. Do you agree with this assessment?

A: This is what we have been saying all along. We have gone out of our way to explain to the rest of the world that the last people Reagan has ever been concerned with are the oppressed millions of our land.

We know Reagan’s interest in our country is our wealth, our gold and the minerals of our land. We know Reagan’s interest is with trade links of our country.

 

Q:   What do you think of the attitude of Margaret Thatcher of Britain?

A: Margaret Thatcher’s attitude is no different to that of Reagan. They both share the same interests. They are both responsible for propping up the Pretoria regime. They are both responsible for the fact that the Pretoria regime has been ruling all these years now. If those two governments changed their foreign policies today, we would attain our freedom.

 

Q: But they still want Nelson Mandela released and the ANC unbanned?

A: It is just a ploy to hoodwink those they believe will still believe in their hypocrisy. It is of no consequence whatsoever what Reagan and Thatcher say in this context. The last wish they have is the release of our leadership and the unbanning of the future government of the land which is the ANC.

 

Q: Will the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC lead to the downfall of white monopoly power in this country?

A: We have never believed that the release itself will bring back the conditions our leaders fought 24 years ago, mysteriously leading to the freedom of our people. It can never be as simple as that. It would never be.

First the release of our leaders would have to be examined in the sense that where does one release them to – to the same country? To the same conditions? There would have to be a correct political climate. The ANC which is the future Government of this land would have to unbanned.

 

Q: You keep saying the ANC is the future government of South Africa. How certain are you about this?

A: I have no doubts about this at all. The ANC is the people’s mouth-piece. The ANC espouses the aspirations of the oppressed people of South Africa. It is a people’s popular movement.

 

Q: You yourself has been subject to a great deal of oppression such as house arrests, detentions and prison terms. Don’t you feel bitter about being subjected to such inhumanity?

A: I don’t think there is a single oppressed person who has no bitterness within himself or herself. It would not be natural for anyone not to feel the bitterness after being subject to such brutal situation by the Afrikaner people, who are so violent.

Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency August 21 1986

 

 

 

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