Yus,

Thanks for forwarding this story, it is really amusing. I am one of the few who greatly admire Winnie for her dedication and commitment to the struggle. The western media have tried constantly to protray her as a horrible woman, but what is new. This incident with Mbeki shows a deep crisis between the two. What is very important is Winnie's connection with masses of South Africa. Her popularity is as a result of her tireless dedication to their plight.

Winnie might have made some poor judgement, but she sure is the mother of the struggle.

Good Night

Pasamba

>From: Yusupha C Jow <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Mbeki, Madikizela-Mandela Divided
>Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 19:50:29 EDT
>
>I found this story amusing. Enjoy!
>By RAVI NESSMAN
>.c The Associated Press
>
>
>JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - There has never been much love between
>President Thabo Mbeki and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, but at least they were
>civil.
>
>Then came the Great Hat Controversy.
>
>The battle of words in the two weeks since has exposed the barely concealed
>dislike between the man who controls the country and the controversial woman
>who commands many of its people's affections.
>
>The dispute began June 16, when Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of beloved
>former President Nelson Mandela and an anti-apartheid legend in her own
>right, arrived late at a soccer stadium for the 25th anniversary
>commemoration of the Soweto Uprising. The crowd began chanting her name,
>interrupting a speech.
>
>She walked onto the stage where Mbeki was sitting, put her hands on his
>shoulders and bent down, apparently to give him a kiss on the cheek. Mbeki
>lifted his left arm to block the kiss and push her away, knocking her black
>African National Congress cap off in the process.
>
>Mbeki, who is also president of the ANC, later said he was annoyed she had
>interrupted the ceremony and come on the stage despite being directed
>elsewhere.
>
>Madikizela-Mandela, who is president of the ANC Women's League, said she had
>not even been invited to the stadium, but chose to go so her absence would
>not be ``misinterpreted.'' She came late because she was trapped behind
>Mbeki's motorcade and approached him onstage, not for a kiss, but to request
>a private chat, she said.
>
>The ANC accused Madikizela-Mandela of ``behaving badly, flouting protocol and
>disregarding the solemnness of the occasion.''
>
>She shot back: ``The masses are still with me. I am the ANC.''
>
>Though Madikizela-Mandela helped Mbeki succeed Mandela as president in 1999,
>their personal styles strongly clashed.
>
>``Winnie has the gift of gab, empathy with the people ... but she's also
>disreputable and noisy and indiscreet,'' said Tom Lodge, professor of
>political science at the University of the Witwatersrand. ``Thabo Mbeki is
>exactly the opposite.''
>
>Mbeki, exiled abroad during apartheid, often appears aloof and more
>comfortable with business officials and world leaders than poor South
>Africans. His popularity has fallen sharply since taking office, according to
>opinion polls.
>
>Madikizela-Mandela lived in the heart of the apartheid struggle. She was
>repeatedly arrested, barred from speaking publicly, shot at in her home and
>temporarily exiled to a remote township.
>
>She remains widely popular among poor urban blacks and has become a mother
>figure to the country's victims, holding grieving the mother's hand at a
>child's funeral and meeting with the poor in squatter camps.
>
>But neither leader is a stranger to controversy.
>
>Madikizela-Mandela has been linked to killings, torture, assaults and arson
>carried out by her bodyguards in the black township of Soweto in the late
>1980s.
>
>For his part, Mbeki, known to be hypersensitive to criticism, has been
>accused of failing to deal with the AIDS crisis and ignoring the needs of the
>poor.
>
>Few appear to have angered Mbeki as often as Madikizela-Mandela.
>
>In a scathing speech at a protest outside the international AIDS conference
>last year, Madikizela-Mandela attacked the government's poor record on
>fighting the deadly disease that afflicts 11 percent of South Africa's 43
>million people.
>
>``We have failed to take HIV/AIDS seriously,'' she told thousands of singing
>supporters.
>
>In January, a letter surfaced from Madikizela-Mandela to Deputy President
>Jacob Zuma in which she repeated rumors Mbeki was a womanizer, said the
>president had ``grievously maligned'' her and accused ANC officials of
>persecuting her.
>
>After the controversy, she accused the government of failing the country's
>poor.
>
>The ANC has launched an investigation into Madikizela-Mandela's behavior.
>
>Political analyst Sipho Seepe cautioned the party to tread lightly with a
>woman whose popular support could cause serious problems for Mbeki and other
>party leaders.
>
>``As controversial as she is, that does not change the fact that she is seen
>as the people's leader, and I think she will always be a thorn in the flesh
>of those who see themselves as the new party bosses,'' he said.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------