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Winnie Mandela, the controversial wife of South African human rights icon and president Nelson Mandela, has died, according to several news outlets. She was 81.
South African website Eyewitness News said Winnie Mandela had been ill for several years. The The iconic activist and politician, was hospitalized back in January with kidney problems. Back then the family released a statement saying Winnie would make a full recovery.
“She is expected to make a full recovery and should spend approximately a week in hospital. She is constantly surrounded by family and is in high spirits,” the family said.
She was married to Nelson Mandela for 38 years, during 27 of which he was imprisoned by the minority-white apartheid regime. After her husband’s release in 1990 and ascendancy to the presidency of South Africa in 1994, the couple soon separated and divorced in 1996.
The family said in a statement that she passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. “Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid,” the statement said. “She fought valiantly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country.” “She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one its most recognizable faces,” the statement said.Her family said Monday that it would release details of her memorial and funeral services once these have been finalized.
