Barbara P. Moss
Winnie Mandela and her husband, Nelson, have become living symbols of protest against the apartheid government of South Africa. She was separated for more than twenty years from her husband because of his imprisonment during most of their marriage.
In 1969, Winnie and twentyone women and men were arrested under the Terrorism Act. She was held in solitary confinement for sixteen months. After her release she wrote her account of
Solitary Confinement.
Winnie Mandela stated that at the time of her arrest she had just seen a heart specialist. The security branch was aware of this condition and she feels they arrested her in hopes that her condition would worsen in prison, and that whatever happened could be attributed to natural causes.
In the beginning, the cell in which she was held was so small that if she stretched her hands she touched both walls. She could barely exercise. The only thing she had in the cell was a plastic bottle with about five glasses of water, a homemade sanitary bucket, three blankets and a sisal mat.
Winnie felt that being held without the ability to communicate was one of the cruelest things one human being could do to another. She was transferred to the condemned cell after being held for one week. The condemned cell means a cell that holds prisoners who are going to be executed. In the condemned cell, there were two grille doors besides the prison door. To this day, she remembers that bunch of keys clicking, the noise that they would deliberately make in the stillness and solitude of a prison life, she actually felt they were hitting the inner core of her soul.
The lights were never switched off, and she had a floodlight night and day. She lost track of time. Her meals were always brought in by the same wardress who would turn the sanitary bucket upside down, place the food on it, and kick it into the cell.
Adjusting to solitary confinement was difficult. Many times she felt that she was talking with her children. She actually conducted conversations as if they were in the cell with her.
Keeping her sanity was difficult. There was absolutely nothing to do, so she began to look for ants. Ants and flies became company for her. When Winnie was given anything, it was a Bible. One day a Swanipole threw a Bible at her face and told her to “Pray so that your God can get you out of this cell.”
The Swanipole was the one who murdered a lot of her people while they were incarcerated. He was the horror of Pretoria Central. Winnie was interrogated day and night for seven days and seven nights. When the guards changed teams, Swanipole rubbed his hands and said he was waiting for the moment when they would break her completely.
By the time they interrogated her, they knew everything. There was nothing they didn’t know. The Swanipole managed to break a few of those who were interrogated before her.
The human body devises its own defensive mechanisms. Winnie began to have fainting spells. This was the only time she got relief from the interrogation.
She needed medical attention as she had begun to urinate blood. Her body was stiff and swollen like a balloon, but did not stop the interrogators. They continued to harass her.
Winnie Mandela became a hardened woman as a result of her brutal treatment. She feels the security branch is responsible for her being the soldier at heart that she is today.