The UDF Publicly Disowns Winnie Mandela

The UDF Publicly Disowns Winnie Mandela On 16 February 1989, the United Democratic Front (UDF) publicly disowned Winnie Mandela following a series of allegations that finally estranged her from her incarcerated husband, Nelson Mandela. Key among some of these allegations was the kidnapping and murder of a young boy called Stompie Moeketsi Seipei. In 1988, Winnie Mandela’s home, in Soweto, was burned by Daliwonga high school students in retaliation for the actions of the Mandela United Football Club. By 1989, after appeals from local residents, and after the Seipei kidnapping, the UDF, in the form of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM), “disowned” Winnie Mandela for “violating human rights ... in the name of the struggle against apartheid”. Winnie Mandela returned to Soweto from Brandfort in late 1985, in defiance of a banning order, issued by the apartheid regime. During her banishment, the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) had formed a mass movement against apartheid. The new organisations relied more heavily on collective decision-making structures, rather than on individual charisma. Instead of following the lead of the Mass Democratic Movement, Winnie Mandela took a more militaristic approach, eschewing the approach of the newer bodies. She began dressing in military garb and surrounding herself with bodyguards, which were known as the Mandela United Football Club (MUFC). Living in Winnie Mandela’s ho