Vandals Ransack Luxury House Built by Winnie Mandela in Black Township

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  Vandals have ransacked the luxury home that Winnie Mandela had built for her husband, jailed black leader Nelson R. Mandela, South African newspapers reported Sunday.

The vandals stripped the 15-room, $250,000 house of all light and electrical fittings, ripped out kitchen cabinets and set fires on the wooden floors. City Press, the country’s largest circulation newspaper for blacks, estimated the damage at $40,000.

The luxury home, located on a hilltop in the exclusive Orlando West suburb of the black township of Soweto, has been unoccupied since its completion two years ago. Some black leaders suggested it would be inappropriate for Winnie Mandela to live in such style while most residents of the township live in tiny, overcrowded homes.

City Press newspaper said the house, paid for by a group of black businessmen, had become a hide-out for thugs and criminals.

Winnie Mandela said she intended to live in the house only after her husband was freed. But there have been reports that Mandela, jailed since 1962, does not want to live in the house at all.

City Press said Winnie Mandela has initiated legal action against police, blaming them for damaging doors and windows of the house during a raid two years ago. The newspaper said she believes the subsequent theft and vandalism was a result of the initial damage.

In July, 1989, a Soweto bungalow where Winnie Mandela lived was gutted by fire after fighting erupted between youths loyal to Mandela and a gang from a nearby school.