The late Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela always expressed concern about the lack of development in her home village of Mbongweni near Mbizana in the Eastern Cape.
It was her wish that her village would be recognised. The National Heritage Council has plans to revive the home of the late stalwart and declare it a national heritage site.
The late Madikizela-Mandela hailed from Mbizana, but was living in Gauteng when she passed away aged 81.
It is a humble place that is crying out for development, something that was very close to the struggle icon’s heart.
“She called me to say that she was concerned as if she knew she was going to pass away or she was going to leave us. She said her place of birth is something that she thinks is not in a good state. We have spoken to our sister organisation for that house to be declared, but not only the house but the church in which they got married,” says National Heritage Council’s Sonwabile Mancotywa.
She never stopped fighting for her village. “She’d say this is wrong even to us. When she was talking to us last year, she’d say the road going to my house is bad. I know you are still new in this position. But even to the previous mayor she’d say the road to my home is still the same,” says Mbizana Local Municipality Mayor, Daniswa Mafumba.
Her family have welcomed the news. It will form part of the legacy of who she was. “We would love for her home to be rebuilt and get a facelift, be revived and make a museum a heritage site sort of, so that when visitors come they are able to see this is a home of an important figure who was well-known around the world,” says Winnie’s sister-in-law Ivy Madikizela.
Once the renovations are complete, it is hoped that the home of the late Mama Winnie as well as the church she was married in will be a tourist attraction. Click below for more on the story:
