1991: Mandela's wife jailed for kidnaps

Winnie Mandela, the wife of anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela, has been given a six-year prison sentence for her part in the kidnap of four youths.

Her lawyers lodged an appeal against the sentence and Mrs Mandela was freed on bail.

The woman known to her supporters as the "Mother of Africa" was found guilty yesterday.

Passing sentence the judge, Mr Justice Stegmann, called her an "unblushing and unprincipled liar".

He said it was impossible to imagine the kidnaps taking place without Mrs Mandela being a "moving force".

Mrs Mandela's housekeeper and driver were also found guilty of taking part in the kidnapping of the four youths who were suspected of being police informers.

One of the four - 14-year-old Stompie Moeketsi - later died of his injuries.

Earlier this year Winnie Mandela's chief bodyguard, Jerry Richardson, was sentenced to death for the boy's murder.

Fall from grace

Nelson Mandela, 73, has so far vigorously supported his wife's claims of innocence.

But Mrs Mandela's attempt to distance herself from the activities of her bodyguards - known as the "Mandela Football Club" - appear to have failed.

The sentence compounds the fall from grace for the woman who for more than three decades was the figurehead of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

She and her husband spent only four months as a married couple before he was sent to prison where he would spend the next 27 years.

She was harassed by the authorities and sent into internal exile.

In 1985 she returned to Soweto in defiance of the banning order in place against her.

However, her critics said she encouraged violence in the township including the notorious "necklace killings" - putting a tryre around a victim's neck and setting it alight.

By the time her husband was released from jail last year Winnie Mandela was deeply unpopular.

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