Ex-Bodyguard Accuses Winnie Mandela of South African Murder

A former bodyguard of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela publicly accused her of murder Tuesday, declaring that he saw President Nelson Mandela’s former wife stab a young activist whom she accused of being a spy.

The allegation was among the most explosive of those being aired before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in a week of hearings focusing on Madikizela-Mandela’s role in a series of slayings that occurred in the later years of apartheid, or white minority rule. With Madikizela-Mandela seeking high office within South Africa’s ruling political party, the African National Congress, the murder allegations constituted a potentially decisive moment in her rocky political career.

The series of hearings that started Monday has centered on the Mandela United Football Club. The group comprised bodyguards with whom Madikizela-Mandela surrounded herself in the late 1980s while her husband was nearing the end of his 27 years of imprisonment.

At least a dozen killings are being probed during the questioning of dozens of witnesses, including members of Madikizela-Mandela’s old entourage who are accusing her of ordering several slayings. Their testimony suggests that a key motive for her actions was fear of spies as she attempted to thwart government security forces.

In much-anticipated testimony from a figure who now lives in Britain and returned to South Africa under witness protection two days ago, Katiza Cebekhulu became the first witness whose testimony places a murder weapon directly in Madikizela-Mandela’s hands. The victim was a 14-year-old activist, James Moeketsi “Stompie” Seipei, who was slain in 1988. Pointing at Madikizela-Mandela before hundreds of spectators, Cebekhulu declared, “I saw her killing Stompie.”

But Cebekhulu’s testimony was attacked on several counts.

For one thing, he had seen the slaying at night and without a clear view. For another, his testimony contradicted that of Jerry Richardson, the man convicted of Seipei’s murder.

Richardson claims that Madikizela-Mandela ordered him to kill Seipei but did not kill the boy herself.

Madikizela-Mandela was convicted in 1991 in connection with the kidnapping but received a suspended sentence.