Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who has died aged 81, held centre stage as political prima donna throughout the most turbulent era of South African history, switching roles with breathtaking panache from the heroine of the revolution, to the comic queen of low farce, and to the ugly sister of shady deals and dirty deeds.
To call her “controversial” was to understate the intensity of passions that she aroused at every turn and at every level of life in South Africa. It was difficult to remain indifferent to Winnie Mandela. She was despised and denigrated or loved and revered in equal measure.
As a consummate populist political figure – as well as an instinctive performer – she appeared to thrive on...