Gillian Schutte
In the final weeks of the Fees Must Fall movement in 2016, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s name resonated through the courtyards and corridors of Wits University and the streets of Braamfontein, as students faced relentless police violence – lethal ammunition, water cannons, and unrestrained aggression.
Amidst the chaos and the resilient cries of students resisting state oppression, Madikizela-Mandela’s legacy emerged as a potent symbol of defiance.
Her revolutionary feminism, a beacon of strength in the face of severe repression, was invoked as a rallying cry against the state’s brutal tactics.
Yet, just as apartheid intelligence and global liberal forces sought to silence Winnie Madikizela-Mandela by undermining her revolutionary impact and discrediting her radical vision, so too did 21st-century neo-liberal discourses work to fragment the Fees Must Fall (FMF) movement from within.
Both strategies aimed to disrupt and neutralise transformative agendas by creating internal divisions and diverting focus from the core issues.
Revolutionary feminism, embodied by Madikizela-Mandela, calls for a profound societal restructuring, aiming to dismantle intersecting systems of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism. Unlike liberal feminism’s incremental approach, revolutionary feminism seeks to overthrow the entire oppressive framework that dehumanises black people and entrenches white supremacy. In strategically targeting Madikizela-Mandela, her reputation was subjected to meticulously orchestrated smear campaigns.
The infamous Stompie Seipei case of 1989, where allegations implicated Madikizela-Mandela and her Mandela United Football Club in the abduction and murder of a young activist, was used to destroy her image and undermine her revolutionary activism. Despite her conviction for kidnapping and assault, Madikizela-Mandela maintained her innocence regarding the murder.
The accusations were to more critical consumers of news, recognised as part of a broader strategy by the apartheid regime and external forces to discredit her and destabilise the anti-apartheid movement. This character assassination aimed to overshadow her significant contributions, reducing her to a figure of controversy rather than a resolute freedom fighter. It also served as a punitive threat to radical feminists challenging capitalism and white supremacy.
Madikizela-Mandela’s challenge extended beyond apartheid to global forces intent on maintaining the status quo. Intelligence agencies, including the CIA, perceived her revolutionary potential as a direct threat. They intercepted her communications, spread misinformation, and created fractures within the anti-apartheid movement to neutralise her radical influence and disrupt her mobilisation efforts.
Her legacy is one of unwavering resistance against apartheid’s racial and gender oppression. However, engineered smear campaigns have, as intended, tainted her memory. Her revolutionary feminism was strategically driven underground, making way for a liberal feminism in South Africa that, in many ways, co-opted and neutralised the radical potential of feminist movements. This liberal agenda’s focus on individual empowerment and legal parity shifted attention away from the structural changes necessary for true liberation, diluting the revolutionary message and marginalising those calling for a comprehensive overhaul of oppressive structures.
The limitations of liberal feminism become apparent in South Africa, where black women face a unique blend of racial, gender, and economic exploitation. The liberal feminist agenda, aiming for equity within existing structures, overlooks the socio-economic contexts shaping African women’s lives.
Madikizela-Mandela recognised that piecemeal reforms were insufficient to address profound issues of inequality and injustice. Her struggle was rooted in the understanding that true liberation required a radical transformation of society.
The feminist narrative surrounding the Marikana women, who stood in solidarity with striking miners during the Marikana massacre in 2012, highlights the failings of liberal feminism.
Instead of being recognised as active agents of change, these women were portrayed as victims needing rescue
by NGOs. This funding-driven narrative failed to address their systemic exploitation and violence, stifling their revolutionary potential and subsuming their voices under a framework that did not reflect their lived realities or aspirations for justice.
Similarly, the Fees Must Fall movement, initially challenging neoliberalism and the dominance of white monopoly capital in all aspects of their lives, including education, was intercepted by distorted 21st-century discourses. These discourses created infighting and diverted focus from economic inequality and systemic racism.
The movement, with potential to unite students and workers against neoliberal exploitation, was fragmented by identity politics and co-opted by liberal agendas prioritising symbolic victories over substantive change.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s revolutionary feminism, rooted in social justice and collective liberation, provides a riveting alternative to contemporary liberal feminism’s limitations.
Her legacy offers a blueprint for a more radical approach to gender and racial equality in South Africa, advocating for the dismantling of intersecting systems of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism through grassroots organising and collective action.
Prominent black feminists such as bell hooks, Angela Davis, and Audre Lorde have emphasised the need to address intersections of race, class, and gender in the quest for equality.
They argue that liberal feminism, by focusing primarily on gender while neglecting other axes of oppression, perpetuates a narrow and incomplete understanding of liberation. Madikizela-Mandela’s revolutionary feminism aligns with this broader perspective, recognising that true freedom for black women cannot be achieved without challenging and dismantling all forms of systemic oppression.
The liberation of black women is intrinsically linked to the broader struggle for social justice and economic equality. Madikizela-Mandela’s vision for a truly liberated South Africa, where black women and their children can thrive, calls for a new era of feminist activism that transcends the superficial reforms of liberal feminism. Her legacy is a clarion call for a comprehensive and intersectional approach to feminism, one that addresses the root causes of oppression and advocates for a complete societal transformation.
* Schutte has a degree in African politics, an MA in creative writing and a film director’s qualification from the Binger Institute, in the Netherlands.