Whilst South Africa and the rest of the world at large mourns Mama Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela, unsavoury comments about her passing on have filled Twitter and left a bad taste in our mouths.
Reports of her death filtered onto social media yesterday and some people had extremely offensive words to say. This is not surprising as her activism throughout apartheid shook and rattled a lot of people. Each and every attack aimed at the lat Mama Winnie leads back to the death of 14-year-old Stompie who was killed by a member of Mandela Football Club. However, the government through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the media at that time spun the story, accusing Mama Winnie of the murder which was committed in 1989 by the coach of the football team which also doubled as a security detail.
It is sad that people have to resort to vitriol when describing a woman who stood as the face of the struggle when her husband then, Nelson Mandela, was in prison. This will not stop us from celebrating a life well lived but is just a reminder that we still have a long way to go in exterminating hate and racism!
Below is a list of five tweets we found to be distasteful.
1.
Winnie Mandela, ‘mother’ then ‘mugger’ of new South Africa, dies at 81 https://t.co/9qe1fvTu8Q
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 2, 2018
2.
An evil woman can escape justice but she can’t escape death. Terrorists escape justice when people make them heroes… #WinnieMandela
— Lord Alder Beckett (@LordABeckett) April 3, 2018
3.
Ding dong the witch is dead. Good riddance to the evil #WinnieMandela
— DaKeB (@Dakeb_MCFC) April 2, 2018
4.
Left wing media hail the wicked #WinnieMandela Even Nelson couldn’t stand her. Will they be cremating her? #Goodyear https://t.co/vQMY1tp7vY
— David Vance (@DVATW) April 2, 2018
5.
Before you liberal retards and blacks elevate #WinnieMandela to sainthood, just a reminder that she murdered Stompie Seipei and got away with it, just as she got away with numerous other crimes! pic.twitter.com/U2xFNTMVMi
— White Lightning (@WitblitzSA) April 2, 2018
This is sad guys. People truly cannot move on from others’ mistakes and will stay judgmental as long as it’s not them who are in the spotlight.