Teenager's brutal death comes back to haunt Mandela

WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela, who is in line to become a South African cabinet minister, was yesterday freshly accused of murdering anti-apartheid activist Stompie Moeketsi, 14.

The allegation was made by a British-based former member of her notorious township vigilante group, the Mandela United Football Club, after the death in prison of the club's "chief coach".

Jerry Vusi Richardson, jointly accused with Madikizela- Mandela at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the infamous murder of Stompie, died this week in Pretoria's Leeuwkop prison, where he was serving a life sentence.

The fates of Richardson and the woman he called Mummy could hardly be more different. He was imprisoned two decades ago for Stompie's killing and died of what a prison spokesman said was "natural causes". Richardson was in his fifties.

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, 71, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1991 for the kidnap of Stompie and for the assault that led to his death. Her jail sentence was reduced on appeal to a £3,000 fine.

While Richardson died in prison, Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, is today on the cusp of a remarkable political comeback. She is fifth on the list of African National Congress candidates for the country's fourth post-apartheid election on 22 April.

In a total proportional representation system, she is certain to be returned to parliament and is likely to become a minister in the government of president-in-waiting Jacob Zuma.

However, just as the shadow of South Africa's corruption- ridden arms deal hovers over Mr Zuma, so the murder of Stompie will always deeply define Mrs Madikizela-Mandela.

She was directly accused at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) hearings in 1997 and in a BBC-TV documentary and an unauthorised biography* of killing Stompie herself and ordering the murders of innumerable other youths in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, in a campaign of punishment and intimidation.

The allegation was repeated yesterday by Katiza Cebekhulu, who gave evidence at the TRC hearings of how he had seen Mrs Mandela stab Stompie to death at her Soweto home. Mr Cebekhulu admitted to the TRC that he had joined Mrs Mandela in the initial savage beatings of Stompie by club members.

Yesterday, Mr Cebekhulu, who has lived in Britain for 12 years and has the right of permanent residence, told The Scotsman: "The night I saw Winnie stab Stompie remains etched in my mind as strongly as ever."

Mr Cebekhulu, now 38, said Mrs Mandela's doctor, Abu-Baker Asvat, had told her to get Stompie to hospital or he would die from his head wounds.

"Winnie soon afterwards organised Asvat's murder (on 27 January, 1989] so he could never give evidence against her," said Mr Cebekhulu. "But first Stompie was killed in the early hours of 1 January, 1989.

"I had gone to bed in an outside room. I woke up and went to the toilet. As I walked back in the darkness

… I saw Richardson carrying Stompie with Winnie next to them. Richardson laid Stompie flat next to the jacuzzi. Stompie was whimpering.

"Winnie had something pointed in her hand. To this day, I can't say whether it was a knife or pair of scissors, but I saw her lift her hand and stab Stompie twice. I could not make out whether she hit him in the neck, chest or somewhere else, but later a pathologist told the TRC Stompie had a neck wound consistent with a stabbing. Together, Winnie and Richardson then held Stompie in the water.

"I was so afraid. I was sure then, and remain sure, that I had seen the moment Stompie died."

Mr Cebekhulu added that he regretted Richardson's death, although he was a cruel man. "Winnie, of course, should also be in jail. But she is the female equivalent of the African 'Big Man'. She is a tragic but ageing showgirl who should, of course, be serving time for her crimes."

• Katiza's Journey: Beneath the Surface of South Africa's Shame, by Fred Bridgland (Sidgwick & Jackson).