Winnie Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and wife to Nelson Mandela dead at 81

[Filuwaúrdjan]

She was a complicated and in many respects a messed up person. Did some good things, did some rather bad ones as well. I tend to think with someone like that that it's important not to gloss over either.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The most telling thing about the almost nihilistic violence in the townships in 1980s was that it was possible at all: if we take Soweto as an example, the state had effectively lost full control over the most populous district in its largest metropolitan area! Probably we should reflect more often on how close SA came to collapsing into a bloody mess: think here not of Zimbabwe, but of Yugoslavia (and not just on racial lines: don't forget, for instance, the very literal conflict between the ANC and Inkatha). That this was averted is one of the miracles of our times.