Winnie Mandela Accuses Security Forces in 2 Deaths
Winnie Mandela, making her first public appearance since she resigned a senior African National Congress post, accused security forces of shooting dead two people at a squatter camp Friday.
In a hard-hitting conclusion to one of the worst weeks of her political career, the estranged wife of ANC President Nelson Mandela visited Soweto township’s Power Park camp on Good Friday and told a cheering crowd of 300 squatters:
“Today is a day of worshiping, but we are spending this day trying to defend ourselves from a terrorist government that has sent and unleashed its forces to come and attack defenseless men and women in their sleep.”
“I heard the shooting from 1 o’clock from my house across there. We will do everything in our power to defend ourselves.”
Police confirmed that two squatters were killed shortly after 1:15 a.m. at the camp in the Johannesburg township’s Orlando district, where Mandela lives. A third person, a police officer, was shot dead in the early morning clash, police said.
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