Late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela wanted to go to Moria (ZCC Headquarters, near Polokwane) days leading to her her passing. That is according to the Personal Assistant, Zodwa Zwane, who spoke passionately about the special moments she shared with the late apartheid struggle stalwart.
Zwane was speaking at Madikizela-Mandela’s memorial service which took place at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Wednesday afternoon.
“Two weeks, we were watching TV with her and she said to me, ‘Zodwa, I would like you to organise (for) me to go to Moria. Please speak to my son, Patrice Motsepe and arrange that I go to Moria.’ I looked at her and said ‘Are you serious?’ She said, ‘Yes’. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll do that.’”
However, Zwane didn’t go into details of how the trip eventually never happened, presumably because of her deteriorating health around the Easter weekend.
Madikizela-Mandela did, however, manage to attend a church service elsewhere.
High-ranking politicians, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, attended the church service in Moria.
Zwane opened up about how overwhelmed she was after she was interview for the position of the PA by Madikizela-Mandela.
“When I walked in, she looked at me and she said I love your outfit. How did you match these colours and your age makes me very comfortable.”
Zwane says they went on to speak about clothes until she was excused to make way for other people who had come for interview.
“Then I said to her, you still haven’t interviewed me. We just talked about clothes, remember? And then she said ‘It’s fine. There’s somebody I have to interview after you’ and I left. The excitement was that I had spoken to Mrs Mandela.”
Watch her full speech below:
