Brandfort, South Africa - In 1977, the apartheid authorities banished Nelson Mandela's wife Winnie to Brandfort, a small, remote town in South Africa's Afrikaner heartland. Worried by how she was keeping the African National Congress (ANC) alive while her husband was in jail, the white supremacist regime restricted her movements to a tiny three-roomed hut with no electricity, no running water and no indoor toilet in the black township on Brandfort's outskirts. Winnie's hut - actually half a hut - was #802. In #806 was Nora Nomafu. Now 71, I found Nora outside Winnie's old house on a recent visit, where she and three other old comrades were conducting a ceremony in remembrance of Mandela, who died last week at the age of 95. "We were not even allowed to speak to her," said Nora. "The women who worked in town had told their children, 'Don't go near this certain communist woman. She was very dangerous.' So when she called to the children, they ran away and screamed." Winnie's isolation offended Nora. "So I asked my little boy to help her fetch her water. And then Winnie got ill and her lawyer got permission for me to help her, and it was then that we discussed so many things." With her resources in the ANC, Winnie was able to bring food, blankets and clothes to Brandfort's township, and later a clinic and a nursery. The clinic was burned down by authorities and stands derelict to this day. "Winnie was not even angry," said Nora. "She was so strong. She would just say: 'I know these dogs. Be careful: they can kill you any time.'" Nora suspected her friend was secretly bitter, though, noting Winnie was only 21 when she married Mandela and 27 when he was sentenced to life. "They took Madiba from her when she was still young with that burning love." But, said Nora, "she did not show her suffering. She would say she needed us to be strong so as to face the Boers. Madiba was forgiveness and reconciliation. Winnie
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