Post date: Aug 08, 2013 10:57:5 PM
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela publishes a collection of her journal and letters written during her imprisonment in 1969 for her role in the anti-apartheid movement.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 8, 2013) (REUTERS) - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, on Thursday (August 8) launched her book '491 Days Prisoner number 1323/69', based on a journal she kept hidden during her time in prison for her role in the anti-apartheid movement in 1969.
Written during the 491-day detention period when the former wife of Nelson Mandela was kept in solitary confinement, Madikizela-Mandela later handed her notes over to her lawyers for safe keeping and the journal along with some letters between herself and her husband were only found and returned 41 years later.Speaking to guests at her book launch in Johannesburg, Madikizela-Mandela said even after the journal was re-found and the decision to publish was take, she could not bring herself to re-read her words.
"Yeah it's very difficult to, to revisit, that period. Even to me I find it difficult to read one paragraph after another. I usually read one paragraph and put the book away because it just brings back so much pain," she said.
"You cannot describe in words, it is not possible to be eloquent enough to translate those feelings in words," she added.
Ex-husband Nelson Mandela, the antiapartheid icon, has spent the last two month in a critical but stable condition in a hospital in Pretoria where he is being treated for a reoccurring lung infection.
Madikizela-Mandela said she was it was a difficult time to discuss her period of correspondence with her then husband.
"It is a very sad feeling specially as their father is now critically ill at the hospital," she said, adding that the letters between her and Nelson were the only form of communication the family had, not only during her incarceration, but Mandela's 27 years in prison.
"I have said before to some journalists that I was the most unmarried married woman, because we really never lived together. We lived together for a few months before he became the Black Pimpernel of the country," she said.
"So we, our communication as family was always through the letters and when he was in prison, through the bars, the prison bars, so that was the only life we knew," she added.
Affectionately known in South Africa as the mother of the nation, Madikizela-Mandela said she paid a high price for the country as the 491-days of detention kept her away from her young children.
"Even to this day a parent like me still feels that guilt; you decide to chose between the nation and your young children and it was a very difficult choice to make. I can't even ask them," she said.
"I just leave it to history and we are very grateful they have turned out to be what they are," she added.
Madikizela-Mandela signed copies of her book, whilst her granddaughter Swati Dlamini thanked the South African community for the prayers and support offered to her grandfather.
"As my grandfather lays critical in hospital for the second month we as a family we thank the South African community, the global world for continuing to pray for him and the family and we thank you for all your support," she said.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, is known throughout the world as a towering statesman who led his country through bloodshed and turmoil to democracy.
Acclaimed by all sides of society in South Africa and recognised as the undoubted elder statesman and moral authority of Africa, he enjoys international affection, admiration and prestige.