The women in Mandelas life

As family man, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela had only regrets about not making room for his family life. But he loved and cherished all his three wives for the love and support they showed to him. He cherished the strength and faithfulness of Evelyn Mase, the tenacity of Winnie Madikizela and the loving companionship he shared with Graca. In his lifetime, Mandela married three times. He was father to six children and grandfather to 20 grandchildren.

Evelyn Mase

Mrs. Mandela I

Mrs. Mandela II

Winifred Madikizela

Graca Machel

Mrs. Mandela III

While in Johannesburg in 1943, Mandela met Evelyn Ntoko Mase in the lounge at Walter Sisulus home. She was from Engcobo in his hometown of Transkei in the Eastern Cape. In his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom, Mandela described Mase as a quiet, pretty girl from the countryside who did not seem over-awed by the comings and goings... A few months later they married at the Native Commissioners Court in Johannesburg in (1943) with Walter and Albertina Sisulu as witnesses. Mandela and Mase had four children together, Madiba Thembekile who was born in 1946 and a daughter Makaziwe Maki born in 1947, but she died nine months later. In 1951 their second son Makgatho Mandela was born and in 1954, their daughter also named Makaziwe (in honour of her dead sister) was born. The couple divorced in 1957 after 13 years of marriage, largely because of the strain Mandelas regular absence and devotion to the black consciousness revolution caused on the marriage. Sometime into their marriage, Mase became a Jehovahs Witness and had no interests in politics since her religious beliefs encouraged political neutrality. In his autobiography, Mandela wrote about the divide between Mases religious beliefs and his political career. When I would tell her that I was serving the nation, she would reply that serving God was above serving the nation. A man and woman who hold such different views of their respective roles in life cannot remain close, said Mandela. In 1998, Mase remarried to Simon Rakeepile a fellow Jehovahs Witness and retired Soweto businessman. Mase died at the age of 82 on April 30, 2004. Despite their divorce, Mandela still sung praises for his rst wife. She was a very good woman, charming, strong, and faithful, and a ne mother. I never lost my respect and admiration for her, but in the end, we could not make our marriage work, he wrote in his autobiography. Their rst son Thembekile died in 1969 at the age of 25 in a car crash. Mandela was still behind bars on Robben Island and was not allowed to attend his sons funeral. Their second son Makgatho died in 2005 at the age of 55 from an AIDS-related illness.

Shortly after his divorce from Mase, Mandela met Johannesburgs rst black social worker Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela in 1958 during his treason trial. They married on June 14, 1958. She was from Bizana in Transkei, Eastern Cape. Madiba had two daughters with Madikizela, Zenani who was born in 1959 and Zindziswa (Zinzi) born in 1960. In April 1992, after 34 years of marriage , the couple separated. Mandela and Winnies separation was mainly caused by the long time they spent apart during his 27-yearimprisonment on Robben Island. In his autobiography, Mandela explains in a public statement about the events that led to his mutual separation with Madikizela Mandela. I shall personally never regret the life Comrade Nomzamo (Madikizela) and I tried to share together. Circumstances beyond our control however dictated it should be otherwise. I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from the moment I rst met her...But just as I am convinced that my wifes life while I was in prison was more difficult than mine, my own return was also more difficult for her than it was for me. She married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth; and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all,said Mandela. Following the four-year separation, they eventually divorced in March 1996. Madikizela was banned for her communist activities under the Suppression of Communism Act and was charged twice with contravening the ban. In 1969 she was detained and placed in solitary connement for 17 months under the Terrorism Act and was placed under house arrest in 1970. In 1976, she was detained for 18 months taking part in the Soweto uprising. She was detained and banished to Phathakahle, Brandford in the Free State in March 1977 and only returned to her home in Orlando in 1986.

Mandela is survived by his wife Graca Simbine Machel, former wife to Mozambiques former president, Samora Machel. Machel was married to her former husband (Samora Machel) from September 1975 until he died in a plane crash on October 19, 1986. Mandela and Graa married on July 18, 1998 on his 80th birthday. Since the death of her husband Machel has been rigorous campaigning for rights for children and humans worldwide. Machel is best known for her role in drastically decreasing illiteracy as Mozambiques education minister, the highest in Africa. As an expert named by the head of the UN at the time she released reports on the Impact of Armed Conict on Children and on the removal of the estimated two million hidden mines in Mozambique. In Anthony Sampsons book Mandela: The Authorized Biography, Mandela is quoted saying the following about Machel: Im in love with a remarkable lady. I dont regret the reverses and setbacks because late in my life I am blooming like a ower, because of the love and support she has given me. The couple lived in Houghton in Johannesburg before moving to Mandela's birthplace of Qunu in the Eastern Cape in July 2011. After Mandela's December 2012 hospitalisation he returned again to his Houghton home to recuperate.