Winnie Mandela stole from poor blacks
The week's news at a glance.
Johannesburg
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, was sentenced this week to four years in prison on dozens of counts of theft and fraud. Madikizela-Mandela helped steal more than $100,000 in bank loans and funeral policies intended for poor blacks. Like her ex-husband, Madikizela-Mandela was a prominent leader in the struggle against the racist apartheid regime in 1980s South Africa. “Only a fool would underplay the important role you have played in this country,” Judge Peet Johnson said at her sentencing. Yet “somewhere, it seems, something went wrong.” Madikizela-Mandela, who showed “not one hint” of remorse, could nonetheless be eligible for parole in eight months.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published