From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:South Africa, differences lead to t'
Date: 16 Apr 92 15:44:34 GMT

/* Written 12:06 am  Apr 16, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "SOUTH AFRICA: DIFFERENCES LEAD TO T" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: SOUTH AFRICA: DIFFERENCES LEAD TO THE MANDELAS' SEPARATION


an inter press service

gavin evans

johannesburg, apr 13 (ips ) -- the chickens have come home to
roost this week for nomzamo winnie mandela, wife of african
national congress (anc) president nelson mandela.

just when the former south african first-lady-in-waiting
seemed on the verge of yet another unbelievable political
recovery, three former allies came out and accused her of a
pair of political murders.

she may or may not get charged again, but with mandela (73)
having finally acceeded to his comrades' requests to separate
from his wife, the game is more or less over for winnie. what
remains is a messy mopping up process.

''in view of the tensions that have arisen owing to
differences between ourselves on a number of issues in recent
months, we have mutually agreed that a separation would be best
for each of us,'' mandela told a news conference announcing the
separation with winnie.

the mandelas have been unofficially separated since november.
but over the past month the anc leader has been under intense
pressure from within the movement to formalise the separation.

adding to the tension have been persistent media reports
that winnie (57) has been having an extra-marital relationship
with a 30-year-old lawyer, dali mpofu.

papers, radio and tv broadcasts in south africa have been
highlighting a series of allegations -- a mixture of hard and
soft evidence, that winnie was somehow involved in the murder of
former azanian people's organisation (azapo) leader dr abu-baker
asvat in january 1989.

there is also renewed evidence that winnie was directly
involved in murdering 14-year-old soweto activist stompie
moeketsi seipei a month earlier.

winnie herself was the first person to claim that asvat was
a victim of a political assassination linked to the seipei case.

asvat was gunned down in his soweto surgery hours after 'the
weekly mail' and the british 'guardian' newspapers exposed the
story of his disappearance from winnie's home in january 1989.

soon after she was quoted in several newspapers that asvat
was murdered because he was a key witness who could prove that
seipei and the other youths abducted from the soweto methodist
manse had been sexually molested. (more/ips)


south africa: differences (2)

three months later the allegation was repeated in the rand
supreme court by xolisa falati, winnie's now-estranged friend.
both hinted strongly there was a link between the murder and the
methodist church.

'the christian science monitor' last year commissioned an
interview with one of winnie's co-accused, katiza cebekhulu (who
was allegedly abducted from the country during the trial).

the interview gave fresh impetus to allegations that winnie
was directly involved in both the seipei and the asvat murders.

in his statement to the police after his arrest, cebekhulu
contradicted winnie saying that asvat visited winnie mandela's
home and ''investigated stompie'' shortly after the assaults.

''while dr asvat examined stompie, i saw that he shook his
head. he spoke to winnie in english. i could not hear what they
said. i heard dr asvat say the word 'hospital'.''

after this, he said, winnie and three football team members,
tied-up and gagged stompie, put him in the boot of a red car and
was driven away by richardson and another team member.

five hours later they returned and told winnie, ''it is
finished with stompie''.

earlier this month, falati came out in the media, saying she
had lied in court to save winnie's skin, and implied she was
more closely connected to the asvat and seipei murders than had
previously been assumed.

winnie's lawyer ismail ayob this week rejected the
allegations. he said neither falati nor cebekhulu were credible.

but the new evidence that winnie was responsible for seipei's
murder (and not just his kidnapping) is far more damning.

one of the key state witnesses in the trial last year, pelo
mekgwe, is back in south africa after he was spirited out of the
country by the anc last year when he jumped bail.

mekgwe's return and the new evidence could well prompt the
state to lay further charges against winnie.

whatever happens, it now looks certain that winnie mandela's
days as ''mother of the nation'' are officially over.

announcing their separation, mandela praised winnie as a
''pillar of support and comfort to myself personally during the
two decades i spent on robben island (as prisoner)''.

he said ''my love for her remains undiminished and she can
continue to rely on my unstinting support during these trying
moments in her life''. (end/ips/ge/apc/ar/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african