“She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones,” Ms Madikizela-Mandela’s family said in a statement.
Ms Madikizela-Mandela was married to Mr Mandela from 1958 to 1996.
Mr Mandela, who died in 2013, was imprisoned throughout most of their marriage and Ms Madikizela-Mandela’s own activism against white minority rule led to her being imprisoned for months and placed under house arrest for years.
“She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one of its most recognisable faces,” the family said.
However, Ms Madikizela-Mandela’s political activism was marred by her conviction in 1991 for kidnapping and assault, for which she was fined.
She faced these allegations again during the 1997 hearings before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that investigated apartheid-era crimes.
In this Feb. 13, 1991 file photo, Winnie Mandela, centre left, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, centre right, leaves the Rand Supreme Court after an adjournment of her kidnap and assault court case.
As a parliamentarian after South Africa’s first all-race elections, she was convicted of fraud.
Still, Ms Madikizela-Mandela remained a…
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