During her short remarks at the Birthday celebration Madikizela-Mandela noted: “I have to keep pinching myself and I wonder if I’m still alive…I’ve never heard of such accolade’s being given while someone is still alive…especially someone like me who always offends someone wherever I speak….”
True to her DNA as an advocate and activist, and with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the audience, Madikizela-Mandela announced:
“When I get well, I am going to lead a campaign for the Marikana orphans and widows. That I can assure you! And you know who will support me…Deputy President [Ramaphosa]! He is going to find the budget from the white capital that’s here…he’s the one working with white capital and he’s sitting here (with white capitalists) right in front of me here. Thank you very much…please [Ramaphos] donate to the Marikana widows ….”
She ended her speech by proclaiming the slogan and demand of the liberation struggle: Amandla (Power!)
“She was excoriated, demeaned and humiliated concerning her political activities during the liberation struggle while the white murderers of Steve Biko and thousands of Black freedom fighters were exonerated in the name of national reconciliation and the delusional myth of a rainbow nation.”
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was allegedly involved in the 2015 Marikana massacre in which 34 striking Black South African miners were murdered by South African security forces. These miners were striking for better working conditions and higher wages. South Africa, along with Russia, produces 90% of the world’s platinum reserve. The people of Marikana know the land is mineral rich, and last year they demanded a share of that wealth. The Marikana mine is owned by Lonmin, a London-based multinational firm. Interviewed during the strike, Mgcineni Noki, 34 a miner at Marikana said: “As you can see, we are not fighting, we are just sitting here, waiting for the employer to address our demands so we can go back to work.” But, Noki, never returned home to his family. Marikana was the bloodiest labor dispute in South African since the end of apartheid.
Critics underestimate Winnie Mandela, even at 80 years old, at their peril. She is a force to be reckoned with. Appropriately, the Maya Angelo poem: “And Still I Rise” was read during her birthday celebration. Considering the trajectory of genocide towards Africans in the US with the recent murders of unarmed Black men, such as, Keith Lamont Scott and Terence Crutcher by national security forces, aka police, Winnie’s unfathomable and undeterred commitment to revolution in South Africa should provide inspiration to political activists in the US to defeat white supremacy and capitalist depredation on this side of the Atlantic.
Dr. Marsha Adebayo is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated: No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. She worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered South African vanadium mine workers. Marsha’s successful lawsuit led to the introduction and passage of the first civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st century: the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet, serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.com and coordinates the Hands Up Coalition, DC.
Article Appeared @http://www.blackagendareport.com/winnie_birthday_marikana