The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Africa Region dips its flag and joins millions of South Africans and the world in mourning the passing of Mama Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela-Mandela on Monday, 2 April 2018.

The name of Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela has come to be known to all in the South African liberation story. It is a name associated with bravery and the love for freedom and the determination to set women and men in our nation free from national oppression, patriarchy and economic exploitation.

It is hard to imagine the anguish and pain she personally went through or that experienced by her children and family during the incarceration of her husband by the brutal Apartheid regime and the suffering she endured as a freedom fighter in her own right. Hon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a stalwart of the struggle for liberation in South Africa, a resolute gender transformation activist and national democratic revolutionary. It is not often that the world has witnessed this level of heroism by a woman. Her departure has left an indelible imprint on the entire continent of Africa.

At this very moment, the international world is undergoing an epochal experience where history-ending and history-making intersect in ways rarely seen before. As the one chapter is closing on the life of this lovable revolutionary, another is opening, prefaced by the question whether Mama Winnie`s remarkable contribution to human progress will simply pass into historical memory or whether it will occasion a leap of faith in those with the power to make a difference to the abject social experience of the overwhelming number of the world’s people in whom Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s life was rooted. 

This new chapter imposes tasks on all of us who have the means to work for meaningful social emancipation of the peoples of the world.

As the CPA Africa Region, we will continue to champion the values for which she stood through pursuing our institutional objectives, which are:

• To promote gender equality and equity at all levels of human development;
• To promote respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual;
• To promote peace, democracy and good governance in all member countries; and
• To promote transparency and accountability in the operation of the Region’s organ and bodies in all member countries.

As they say: “True heroes live forever through their heroic acts”. The only thing possible for humanity and peace-loving people is to forever commit to a life of selfless service and to ensure real freedom for all. Let the spirit of this Mother of the Nation live forever to guide South Africa, Africa and the world in the quest for peace, democracy and development.