RIP Winnie Mandela

I like a saying that you shouldn’t judge a person’s entire life on the basis of the worst thing they ever did. On that basis, everyone gets condemned.

So with that in mind I’m trying to be balanced about WInnie Mandela, but the problem is there is so many bad things she did – the necklacing, kidnappings, torture and murders of her Mandela Football Club. Plus the corruption, theft and fraud.

But to put this in context, she did much good fighting apartheid, and during the apartheid era she was also tortured, arrested and banished. Her treatment during those times may be responsible for turning her into the persons she became. If it wasn’t for apartheid, she would have had an easier life no doubt.

So in marking her death, it is fair to remember her earlier good days, as well as her awful latter days.