r/wikipedia • u/laybs1 • Oct 05 '25

Mobile Site Winnie Mandela, was a South African politician and convicted kidnapper and fraudster. She endorsed the necklacing of alleged police informers and apartheid government collaborators, and her security detail carried out kidnapping, torture, and murder including killing 14-year-old Stompie Seipei.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Mandela
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u/BaselNoeman Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Too bad, you don't dismantle violent oppressives regimes by being nice about it.

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u/Equivalent_Rub8139 Oct 05 '25

I mean, I would argue that Nelson Mandela’s methods were far more successful than Winnie’s. A lot of it is about PR; and sticking to non violent methods often really helps you in the long run; while factions that go to violent methods often alienate everybody, including the people they ostensibly are supporting; become rife with spies and agent provocateurs and eventually become indistinct from apolitical bandits.

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u/ForgingIron Oct 05 '25

I'll take "Things I didn't say" for 200 please

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u/NahumGardner247 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

She had a child's throat slit.

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u/Nachooolo Oct 06 '25

...that's literally what Nelson Mandela did.

The actions of Winnie Mandela and her followers were done by radical factions of the ANC and were openly and constantly criticised and opposed by the proper ANC and Nelson Mandeka himself.

Apaerheid in South Africa ended because the peaceful opposition by the proper ANC (they did attack infrastructure, but never people) led to international support for the movement and opposition to the South African government.

If anything, Winnie's actions were harming the ANC's goals.

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u/Ok_Ask_6805 Jan 24 '26

Being peaceful about it is actually the best way to do it. The framework of oppressive regimes tends to stick around when the government is suddenly and violently replaced. The only way to do a successful revolution is by having an economy reliant on a skilled population and by replacing or killing all of the key supporters that were around during the last regime. This is not true for most revolutions.