Seeing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela through hericonic fashion sense at Constitution Hill
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
Many people over the long weekend am sure took advantage of the break from work to take a holiday to the coastal areas, and those that are fortunate enough to have big pockets may have even sneaked out and went overseas.
But those that remained in Johannesburg also had a lot to do, whether it is attending a concert or attending an art exhibition or that film one has always wanted to see but could not because of work commitments.
Well on Thursday last week, March 20, 2025, I joined a group of arts lovers who attended a photographic exhibition talk at Constitution Hill, held against the background of the exhibition titled that is currently on at the same venue.
However, because the place was busy with several activities taking place at the same time, it became both a good thing but at the same time made it difficult for one to focus on one activity as some of the activities took place at the same time.
For example, during the photography dialogue, which took place in the Women’s Jail where the photographic exhibition is on, an art installation honouring the fashion sense of the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was being installed. The fashion pieces that are there are a fresh take or rather interpretation of Winnie’s fashion sense and style, which was admired by many.
I personally felt that this is something new, looking at Winnie’s other aspect of her colourful, if not controversial multi-layered life. I mean when people think about Winnie’s life and times, it is often the habit of many to look at her political activism and not her other aspects of her lived experience, such as a stylish and iconic fashion sense.
I also felt that this exhibition, where I lingered at more than at any of the other events taking place there, was an apt recognition of Winnie’s less controversial life.
But I also felt that read together with the theatre show, The Cry of Winnie Mandela, which has been running at the Market Theatre for a while, and which has been enjoying critical reviews and has been putting bums on the seats not like any other show at the same venue for a long time, this fashion interpretation was another layer of acknowledging Winnie’s social standing in South African society.
The cry of Winnie, which is adapted from the book of the same name by highly respected novelist and essayist Njabulo S. Ndebele by playwright Alex Burger and directed by increasingly widely respected young director MoMoMatsunyane is another way of looking and marking Winnie’s complicated roles in South African society.
The play through the eyes of women who in the context of the migrant labour system in South Africa, which instead of cementing relationship between a husband and wife actually destroyed family unity. This is because men would leave their wife at home while they went to the reef to work mostly in gold mines since the 19th Century when gold was discovered in Johannesburg. Women waited indefinitely for their men to come back and share intimacy and build relationships further which in some cases were strained by these long and indefinite absences in their lives.
The play, which has since been staged at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and is now back at the Market Theatre, rumour doing rounds in theatre circles around Johannesburg, is that instead of closing on Sunday, it will be extended till the end of September. This is due to its demand, which has not been seen in recent years in South African theatre as theatres in general struggle to attract as many fans as they used to do in the past due to other entertainment platforms, such as social media. This means that The Cry of Winnie Mandela has broken the spurl.
There was also Winnie Madikizela-Mandela inaugural lecture that was to be opened by Lebohang Maie, the MEC for Economic Development for the Gauteng Provincial Government. However, I left before the event, heading to another event.
The point however is that the late Winnie was the centre of attention over this past long weekend, which coincided with the Human Rights Day on March 21, 2025.