Wandisile’s Plett
A blog by Wandisile Sebezo
Plett celebrates Mam’ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Last week on Thursday the 12th, Plett joined the series of many memorials organised across the country, in celebrating the life and times of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, affectionately known as the mother of the nation.
At a municipal organised event at Phakamisani Primary School, in the presence of Minister and Plett Constituency Head, Ayanda Dlodlo, the executive mayor, Cllr Peter Lobese and speaker of council, Cllr Annelise Olivier- her memory was well engraved in all our hearts, after-all, they say memory is the struggle against forgetting, and may we dare not forget.
Speaker after speaker, accolades of how Winnie epitomised the spirit of defiance during the height of apartheid was emphasised. She who kept the torch burning when the ANC and other liberation movements were banned. She who reminded us, especially us the young to never accept anything that seeks to oppress, but to stand tall and fight, against patriarchy, white supremacy, xenophobia, homophobia and all forms of prejudice and injustice.
May we all illuminate from her well lived life, she refused to be defined by anything other than her worth, her humanity, her character, her intellect. She wore a doek, but not in submission, but in celebrating the ways of her people.
We are Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and she is us. To do justice to her memory, we must continue the fight against racism, we must never tire in ending inequality and gender based violence in the spaces we live in.
May we drink from the ever lowing well of her resilience, defiance and triumph. Rest in eternal power, mother of ourselves!
