Winnie Mandela ‘Involvement’ Told by Abducted Clients, Attorney Says

A lawyer for three black men said Monday his clients told him Winnie Mandela was “involved in the events” when they and a friend were allegedly abducted from a church home and beaten by her unofficial bodyguards.

The statement by prominent anti-apartheid lawyer Geoff Budlender came one day after a newspaper reported that Mandela, the wife of jailed African National Congress leader Nelson R. Mandela, took part in the alleged assaults.

One of the four, 14-year-old Stompie Mokhetsi, has been missing since Jan. 1 and is feared dead.

Winnie Mandela, 54, has denied the accusations in the Sunday Star, an anti-apartheid Johannesburg newspaper. She has implied the charges were fabricated to hurt her husband.

Budlender said that his clients, who are considering legal action, gave him statements about what happened but have not authorized him to release details.

The men, aged 20 to 29, were released from Mandela’s home after intervention by community leaders.

Budlender said his clients “say they were abducted . . . and they were all assaulted on the first night. They say she was involved in the events on the first night. They say Stompie was removed from them a day or two afterward and they never saw him again.”

Mandela has denied that she was at her home when the unofficial bodyguards, known as the Mandela United soccer club, brought the four there. She has said they were taken from the Methodist Church house to protect them from sexual abuse, a charge the church denies.