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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela denies accusations
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Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (December 4, 1997 12:06 p.m. EST
http://www.nando.net) -- A defiant Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, her temper
flaring at times during her long-awaited testimony, denied Thursday she
ordered killings or committed atrocities and dismissed allegations
against her as lunacy.
Composed and unrepentant before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
the ex-wife of President Nelson Mandela denied all allegations against
her and insisted some of her accusers made them up.
She described as "ludicrous, and the worst lunacy," the charge that she
ordered the death of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei in late 1988 or early
1989. And she said the allegation she ordered her former chief bodyguard
Jerry Richardson to kill others was "ridiculous."
Afterward, when relatives of those who were beaten and killed were asked
to stand so their suffering could be acknowledged, Seipei's mother,
Joyce Seipei, unexpectedly embraced and kissed Madikizela-Mandela.
Madikizela-Mandela's testimony followed eight days of statements about
her conduct by more than 30 witnesses. The Truth Commission is
investigating 18 human rights abuses -- including murder and torture --
allegedly committed by Madikizela-Mandela and her bodyguards, known as
the Mandela United Football Club.
The commission, which is investigating apartheid-era human rights
violations, lacks the power to press criminal charges but can turn over
the evidence it gathers to police.
Residents of the black township of Soweto, where Madikizela-Mandela once
defied the oppression of white rule, gathered in homes and churches to
watch her nationally televised testimony. Many expressed disillusionment
with the woman they once revered and said she should pay for any
misdeeds.
"She doesn't remember anything. She denies everything," Bobby Wauchope,
37, shouted while watching the hearing at a Baptist mission. "She should
be prosecuted for all the murders."
Madikizela-Mandela appeared intent on denying all the accusations in a
bid to maintain her status as a popular anti-apartheid leader.
She wants to run later this month for deputy president of the governing
African National Congress, a position that could make her deputy
president of the country after national elections in 1999. The
mainstream ANC leadership, including Mandela, opposes her nomination and
the ANC Women's League, which nominated her, said it would reconsider
its support.
In a composed but defiant tone Thursday, Madikizela-Mandela accused some
of her accusers of making up allegations.
"I would never have needed protection from a character like that," she
said of John Morgan, her former driver, who told the commission he lied
in the past to provide Madikizela-Mandela with an alibi for the
kidnapping and assault on Seipei and three other young men.
She has been isolated from the mainstream leadership of the ANC because
of the havoc she and her football club allegedly created in Soweto in
the late 1980s.
Madikizela-Mandela blamed many of her problems on an
apartheid-government campaign to discredit her. An apartheid agent
testified last week about the campaign, by a unit known as Stratcom, and
how it spread rumors about Madikizela-Mandela.
Madikizela-Mandela labeled one of her chief accusers, former football
club member Katiza Cebekhulu, a "mental patient" and denied his various
allegations against her.
In a book published this year and at the hearing last week, Cebekhulu
said he saw Madikizela-Mandela plunge a shiny object into Seipei's body
and also ordered the killing of Soweto physician Abu-Baker Asvat.
Cebekhulu, who disappeared in 1991 on the eve of Madikizela-Mandela's
trial in the Seipei case, also claimed she arranged to get him out of
the country.
She rejected all the claims Thursday, calling Asvat a close friend whose
death shocked and saddened her.
Much of the testimony before the commission has been inconsistent and
confusing, stemming in part from the almost 10 years that have elapsed
and the anarchic atmosphere of township life at the time. But a
recurring theme through all of it has been the domineering influence of
Madikizela-Mandela and the football club.
On Wednesday, the former coach of the football club said his hands were
"full of blood" from carrying out Madikizela-Mandela's orders to kill.
Richardson, a convicted murderer, also made other startling allegations
in almost eight hours of testimony. He admitted to being a police spy
and selling out two ANC guerrilla fighters killed in a shootout at his
home, and he implied Madikizela-Mandela had cozy relations with
apartheid agents in the late 1980s.
His most damaging statements involved the vicious beating and subsequent
killing of Seipei, allegedly on the orders of Madikizela-Mandela.
"I killed Stompie under the instructions of Mami," he said, referring to
Madikizela-Mandela by the name many at the time used for the woman once
known as the mother of the nation. "Mami never killed anyone but she
used us to kill a lot of people. She does not even visit us in prison,
but she used us."
Madikizela-Mandela, 63, has long denied such allegations. She testified
in private before the Truth Commission earlier this year after being
served with a subpoena, then asked for the public hearing that began
Nov. 24 in a bid to clear her name.
Richardson described a climate of intimidation and terror, with the
football club meting out township discipline in the form of fierce
beatings with fists, whips, kicks and the practice of dropping victims
on the ground repeatedly. He claimed Madikizela-Mandela took part in
some beatings.
Killings such as Seipei's were punishment for people who defied
Madikizela-Mandela and then were accused of being police informers,
Richardson said.
Richardson is serving a life sentence for the murder of Seipei.
Madikizela-Mandela was convicted in 1991 of kidnapping Seipei and the
other three young men and taking part in assaults on them. Initially
sentenced to six years in jail, she eventually paid a $3,200 fine on
appeal.
The club caused such havoc that residents burned Madikizela-Mandela's
house and the mainstream anti-apartheid leadership distanced itself from
her.
Nelson Mandela was in prison at the time. He was released in 1990. The
couple separated in 1992 and divorced last year, with Madikizela-Mandela
adding her maiden name to her married name. None of the accusations in
this case concern him.
By TOM COHEN, Associated Press Writer
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