The case against Winnie Mandela, charged with breaking her banning order reopened in January. The five charges related to receiving visitors at the house in Brandfort to which she was removed from her Soweto home.
According to the defence case, the police sergeant in charge of the Brandfort location misinterpreted the terms of a banning order, believing that no visitors to the Mandela house could be allowed without his permission, although her daughter Zinzi was under no restrictions.
On 9 February Mrs. Mandela was convicted on two charges: receiving visitors on 23 May when an application to do so had been refused but the visitors arrived to see Zinzi, and attending a social gathering on 9 June when she visited a house where two other people were present. The magistrate found that although prohibited, neither action was sinister nor concealed.
Mrs. Mandela was sentenced to six months' imprisonment on both charges, suspended for four years. She was acquitted on the other three charges. Police moved in to disperse a spontaneous demonstration of support when sentence was pronounced and six persons were arrested.
Appeals by four women sentenced to prison terms for refusing to answer questions relating to their visits to Mrs. Mandela were heard in February when it was argued on their behalf that to do so would have risked self-incrimination. The four are Mrs. Helen Joseph, Mrs. Barbara Waite, Mrs. Ilona Kleinschmidt and Miss Jackie Bosman. Judgement was reserved.
