Letter | Remember day I met Winnie

I will always remember the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and the day I interviewed her in her Johannesburg office when I was a young freelance reporter for the Rand Daily Mail many years ago.

Madikizela-Mandela was banned in accordance with the Suppression of Communism Act at the time. She was never ever allowed to receive visitors. Madikizela-Mandela warned me to leave her office immediately because we could be arrested by the notorious security policemen if they found us together.

But I was determined to get a scoop for my newspaper.
Madikizela-Mandela gave me the necessary details, and I thanked her and wished her very well.

The story was published on page one of the Rand Daily Mail and the editor-in-chief congratulated me.

I soon became a professional full-time journalist on the staff of various newspapers in Johannesburg, Cape Town and also in Port Elizabeth.

Madikizela-Mandela was the greatest and bravest woman I ever interviewed in my journalism career.