The remains of late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s cousin Sthembiso Madikizela, who died in political exile in 1986, will finally be returned to his ancestral home for burial.
Sthembiso left the country in 1960 to join the ANC’s armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe. He later became a bodyguard of the liberation movement’s president Oliver Tambo.
“We found his grave in Harare in Zimbabwe and we repatriated him along with 42 other people. His funeral will coincide with Oliver Tambo’s birthday, on 27 October. He was very close to OR and he was his driver,” deputy director-general of the Department of Sports Arts and Culture Vusithemba Ndima told Sunday World.
His funeral will be on Sunday, October 27 in his home town at Mbongweni, in Bizana, Eastern Cape.
Ndima said the Eastern Cape government will be responsible for the funeral arrangements.
On September 25, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton Mackenzie and Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga received the remains of 42 former liberation fighters who passed away in exile in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Sthembiso left the country in 1960 and died of natural causes in exile in 1986. Sthembiso and Winnie shared the same grandparents. Their fathers were brothers.
Sunday World can also reveal that Sthembiso’s mother, Vumani Evelyn Madikizela, died pleading with Madikizela-Mandela to help her bring her son’s remains back home. At that time she had no idea what had happened to her son.
Sthembiso’s eldest son told Sunday World of the pain the family suffered due to their father’s absence. “I was six years old when he died. We lived together in Zimbabwe. I don’t remember much of him because I was still young. I’m happy that he’s back home but my heart is heavy. He died fighting for this country but we gained nothing. We’re not working; we don’t even have a home.”
He said that they were born and raised in Zimbabwe.
“We lived with both parents but our mother also passed away in the 1980s. We were still at school and very young. Our aunt, Winnie, decided to bring us to South Africa to live with her in Johannesburg,” said Nkululeko.
He said he was glad his father was finally coming home.
“It’s been a long painful journey. We wrote letters to the government, and we begged Winnie [Madikizela-Mandela] to bring him home but all our efforts were futile. Whenever we inquired about him we’d be referred back to Winnie and she was not telling us anything.
“We still have a lot of questions and we still have a lot of healing to do. Nonetheless, we are happy our father is finally back at home,” said Nkululeko.
