The story of how
Stompie, as the locals affectionately call it, got to this plot of land on the corner of Mandela Way and Page's Walk is truly bizarre.
But what was probably the darkest spot in Winnie's remarkable life was the murder of
Stompie Seipei.
Following her death, obituaries by the local media (that had, ironically, vilified her during her life and accused her of being responsible for the death of
Stompie Seipei, despite having been absolved of the murder of the teenager) projected Madikizela-Mandela as the mother of the nation, while the majority of the Western media continued to paint her as aggressive, hostile, angry and a terrorist.
In 1988, 14-year-old
Stompie Seipei, an anti-apartheid fighter at some stage in the care of Madikizela-Mandela, became labelled a government spy.
In 1999, her head bodyguard, Jerry Richardson, told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that on her orders, he had assaulted a 14-year-old boy,
Stompie Moeketsi, also known as
Stompie Seipei, for days in Madikizela-Mandela's home in 1989, before killing the boy with garden shears.
They were accused of the disappearances and killings of at least 18 boys and young men and the group's leader was convicted of killing a 14-year-old boy, nicknamed "
Stompie," who was accused of being a police informer.
In the most infamous case, her bodyguards in 1989 kidnapped four boys including 14-year-old James "
Stompie" Seipei Moeketsi.
In 1991, she was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to the assault of 14-year-old
Stompie Moeketsi, who was killed by one of her bodyguards.
A few months after she was convicted in 1991 for involvement in the disappearance of young boy
Stompie, who she had accused of being a spy for the South African police, I spent a day with Winnie's former driver.
Blamed for the killing of activist
Stompie Seipei, who was found near her Soweto home with his throat cut, she was convicted in 1991 of kidnapping and assaulting the 14-year-old because he was suspected of being an informer.
How amazing is our little "
Stompie"--having survived so long with only a piece of his trunk left after it was severed in a snare at least four years ago ...
She has also failed to shake off allegations of kidnap, assault and the murder of the 14-year-old ANC activist
Stompie Moeketsi.