Winnie Mandela Resigns ANC Post : South Africa: She had been under fire after she was convicted in a kidnaping and assault case last year.

An embattled Winnie Mandela resigned as head of the African National Congress’ social welfare department Wednesday, blaming “those who wish to destroy me” for allegations that made it impossible for her to continue her work.

By stepping down from the important job, the world-renowned liberation leader will lose much of her power in the ANC. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for her, including the announcement Monday by her husband, ANC President Nelson Mandela, that the couple was separating after 33 years of marriage.

Winnie Mandela said she was resigning the job, an appointment by the ANC’s national executive committee, out of devotion to the ANC, the country’s largest black organization, and her family.

“Nothing can make me waver in my commitment to my organization, to my husband and to the oppressed and impoverished people of South Africa,” she said. But, she added, a “campaign of vilification has created a difficult situation for the ANC, my husband as its president, and myself.”

Winnie Mandela has been under fire inside and outside the ANC for her conviction last year on charges of kidnaping and assaulting four township youths as well as recent published charges that she was responsible for the 1989 deaths of two anti-apartheid activists.

“I have always maintained my innocence,” said the 57-year-old Mandela, noting that an appeal of her conviction is pending. “My request that the matter should be left (to) the courts has not only been ignored but appears to fuel the desire of those who wish to destroy me and to discredit the ANC.”

Later, tears welled up in her eyes and her soft voice cracked as she thanked “those who have stood steadfastly by me during the long years of struggle. . . . “

The ANC’s national working committee, the chief policy-making body, said it accepted Mandela’s resignation as “a courageous initiative taken in the best interests of . . . the ANC.” The statement, issued by ANC Secretary General Cyril Ramaphosa, also paid tribute to her “outstanding contribution to the struggle of our people against apartheid.”

The ANC panel added that Mandela had made the decision to resign on her own, although officials admitted privately that she had come under pressure to step down. She retains her elected position on the 96-member national executive committee as well as positions on the executive committees of the ANC Women’s League and the ANC’s Johannesburg regional chapter.

Mandela announced her resignation in a two-page statement read to reporters at ANC headquarters. She was flanked by several ANC officials, but neither her husband nor any other top ANC leaders were present. She did not take questions.

Although Nelson Mandela had said earlier that their separation was by mutual agreement, his wife made no mention of their troubles. Instead, she said, her husband “has been the focus of my life and my love throughout our marriage and continues to be so.”

Winnie Mandela, a social worker, was appointed head of the social welfare department, which deals with returning exiles, last year.

Many ANC officials opposed the appointment because she had been convicted last May of orchestrating the kidnaping and beating of four activists at her home in 1989. One of those activists, 14-year-old Stompie Seipei, died of his injuries.

But Mandela’s dwindling band of backers within the ANC contended that the convictions were an attempt by the white-minority government to damage her reputation and, by extension, the reputation of Nelson Mandela and the ANC.