Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down

Date: 29 Jul 1988
Updated: 22 Aug 2019

Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down

The Sowetan reported that the Soweto home of Winnie Mandela, wife of an imprisoned leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela, was burned down allegedly by a group of schoolchildren. Among the explanations that emerged was one that the attack had been aimed not at the Mandela family but the football club closely associated with Winnie Mandela. Members of the club had allegedly attacked a Soweto schoolgirl. When told about the incident, Nelson Mandela did not make a statement but requested that there should be no charges laid and no prosecution. Source: South African Institute of Race Relations. (1989). Race Relations Survey 1988/89, Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations, p. 605.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012761

South African History Online (2011) 'Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012761 (Accessed: 19 September 2026).

South African History Online, Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012761, (accessed 19 September 2026).

"Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012761. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Winnie Mandela’s Soweto home reported burnt down." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012761.