Winnie Mandela

Born Winnifred Madikizela at Bizana, Pondoland, South Africa, September 26, 1936 (some sources say 1934): ex-wife (1958-March 1996) of South African president (May 1994-June 1999) and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. She emerged as a leading opponent of the white minority government during her huband's long imprisonment (August 1962-February 1990), but was subsequently damaged by accusations of responsibility for the January 1989 abduction and killing by her bodyguards of 14-year-old ANC activist Stompie Seipei Moketsi.

During the transition from Apartheid racial segregation she appeared to adopt a less conciliatory attitude than her husband toward the previously dominant white community, and their marriage ended in divorce in March 1996 after four years of separation. She remained popular, however, among many ANC radicals, and in 1993 she was elected president of the ANC Women's League, though she withdrew her candidacy for ANC vice-president at the movement's December 1997 Mafiking conference following further damaging revelations about the Seipei incident during the sittings of the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.