Winnie Mandela (L), former wife of ANC leader Nelson Mandela, talks to the late singer Miriam Makeba at the announcement of a three-day concert and summit to aid African children. The photo was taken on November 6, 1991.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Nelson Mandela's ex-wife Winnie is threatening legal action against the makers of a biographical film about her starring Jennifer Hudson.
By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg
Published: 2:36PM GMT 26 Jan 2010
The film is likely to detail the fraud, kidnapping and murder controversies that have surrounded the anti-apartheid leader's former wife.
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, as she has been known since her divorce from Mr Mandela in 1996, is one of South Africa's most controversial and divisive figures.
She is revered in some quarters as the "Mother of the Nation" for her role in the struggle, the harassment she suffered from the white authorities, and her populist rhetoric that still appeals to South Africa's poor.
But for others she is reviled. She once notoriously declared that "with our boxes of matches and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country", referring to the preferred way of killing suspected informers in the townships, setting fire to a petrol-filled tyre around their necks, so ensuring an agonising death.
Under apartheid she was convicted of kidnapping Stompie Moeketsi, 14, who was later found beaten to death in Soweto, and long after the advent of democracy, she was convicted of more than 40 charges of fraud in 2003 – her prison sentence was replaced with a suspended term on appeal.
Even so she topped the poll for the ruling African National Congress' national executive committee at its last congress in 2007, prompting speculation – which proved to be unfounded – that she would be given a cabinet post in Jacob Zuma's government.
The South African-made film, titled Winnie, is due to start shooting in May and will star Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar-winning American actress, whose casting in the role provoked protests from South African actors.
It is based on an independent biography of her, Winnie Mandela: A Life, by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, a former journalist, described by one reviewer as "hard-hitting but not heartless".
Nonetheless lawyers for Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, 73, have stepped in to warn the producers that she is reserving her legal rights.
A letter from Bowman Gilfillan, one of the country's leading law firms, said she had not been approached for consent to the film, according to Johannesburg's Star newspaper.
"It is difficult to understand how a production bearing the name of an individual who has not been consulted at all could ever be appropriate or tell the full story of that individual life," it quoted the letter as saying.
"This is certainly the case here where our client has not responded to allegations and comment which have been made about her, precisely because she has sought to protect her sphere of personal privacy as best she can in extremely difficult and turbulent times."
A spokesman for Bowman Gilfillan declined to comment on the matter, citing lawyer-client privilege.
In a statement on Tuesday night, the producers’ spokesman Dezi Rorich said they had met Mrs Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers, but were “unable to reach an understanding with them”, and made clear they would not back down.
“The position of the producers is that if a screenplay has to be approved by Ms Madikizela-Mandela, then the film based on that screenplay could possibly be jeopardised as the world may question the credibility of the film,” she said, adding that they were advised that they do not legally need her consent to make the film.
But in a nod to the potential sensitivity of the issue, she added that they “do not intend any disrespect towards Ms Madikizela-Mandela or the Mandela family by not requesting such consent”.
The ANC's spokesman Brian Sokutu said that "out of courtesy and respect" the filmmakers should have discussed the project with her "to see how she feels", particularly as it was likely to be "highly controversial and personal".
Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, he said, was "entitled to take legal action to protect her reputation from any form of character assassination".
But he declined to say whether the party would back her in any attempt to stop it being made. "We are a constitutional democracy," he said.
Winnie Mandela angry over biopic
JOHANNESBURG – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers have complained to the makers of a new movie about her life, saying she was never consulted about the film starring Jennifer Hudson, local media said Tuesday.
Plans for the film “Winnie” were announced late last year by South African film-maker Darrell J. Roodt, whose films include “Cry, The Beloved Country” and “Sarafina.”
But a letter from her attorney Bowman Gilfillan said Madikizela-Mandela was “extremely concerned” to hear about the film, saying “she has never been approached for consent or at all,” according to The Star newspaper. “It is difficult to understand how a production bearing the name of an individual who has not been consulted at all could ever be appropriate or tell the full story of that individual life as media reports suggest this production is intended to,” the letter said, according to the paper.
Madikizela-Mandela campaigned tirelessly for her husband’s release during his 27-year imprisonment in the apartheid era.
She separated from Nelson Mandela in 1992, three years after his release, but she remains a leading South African figure in own her own right. – AFP
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