Terrence Mawawa

Iconic Zimbabwean business tycoon Strive Masiyiwa has described the late Winnie Madikizela Mandela as a true champion of the struggle for economic emancipation in Africa.

Below is Masiyiwa’ s statement on Winnie Madikizela Mandela’ s death:

The day Winnie Madikizela-Mandela came to
visit me.

“She is here! It’s her, and she is sitting waiting for
you in our board room!” said my PA, barely able to
contain herself with excitement.

“Who?!” I asked.
“She told me not to tell you, because it’s a surprise.”

So I followed her, not knowing who she was talking
about.

“My boy! My son!” she shouted gleefully as she
rushed from her seat, and with those words she
enveloped me with the huge hug of an African
mother!

She was bubbling with joy as she greeted me.
I can still see her now, in this amazing headwear
that only she could wear with such abandoned
elegance.

It was Winnie Mandela!
We had never actually met, but it didn’t seem like
that. It was as though I had known her all my life!
Which in a way was true.

As I was growing up in Zambia (amongst the exile
communities from Zimbabwe and South Africa)
Winnie Mandela’s life and travails were daily fare for
us.

We may not have had social media platforms
like Facebook and Twitter, but we all “followed” her
like any celebrity today.

She was our celebrity, our heroine, our symbol of
defiance with courage and dignity.
My mother had two older sisters (both now late) and
their own husbands were in political detention in the
then Rhodesia.

One served 11 years, whilst the other
collectively did more than 20 years. The pain in the
lives of those two women was like the life of Winnie
Mandela without the fame. And even though my
mother never met Winnie Mandela, to her she was
the public face of her struggling sisters.

In those days, when pictures of the beautiful Jackie
Kennedy would appear in magazines, my mother and
her friends would just scoff and say, “She is not as
beautiful as Winnie Mandela!”

Now she was in my office, looking like she had
walked off a movie set!
That evening I called my mother.
“Guess who came to my office, Mama… Winnie
Mandela!”

“Shuwa! Shuwa!”
“Shuwa, Mama!”
“Ah!Ah!” she exclaimed. “So how was she dressed?”
“Like a queen Mama! Even Jackie Kennedy could
not dress like that!”

“Then you have met my Winnie!
Winnie Mandela had heard that I was being
persecuted back home in Zimbabwe, and wanted to
make me welcome in South Africa.

She told me she
would fight for me “if Thabo Mbeki tries to send you
back to Mugabe”!
I assured her I didn’t think it would come to that. We
then chatted over a cup of tea about charity work,
and she told me about her non-political interests.

Then she was gone like a fragrant gust of wind. I
was not sure what to make of it, but I appreciated it.

That was nearly 17 years ago.
I did not see her again, except at occasional public
events, but if she spotted me, she would always
come over and ask how I was doing. I appreciated
it.
Like everyone else, I have read a few things about
her, both good, bad and sometimes also
disappointing.

I will leave that all to the great Judge
Himself now.
Today I thought to just share this little memory to
celebrate her life.
That day when she came to visit me at my office, is
my own memory of her captured and stored forever.

My deepest condolences to her family, and the
people of Africa who saw her as a mother in the
struggle for Africa’s dignity.

May God strengthen you with peace.