Afraid Of Nothing And No One!

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s former PA recalls what is was like being in this formidable woman’s orbit.

- Colin Hendricks

HE CAN’T believe he’ll never again pick up the phone and hear Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s distinctive voice on the other end of the line.

Serving as the icon’s personal assistant for 24 years, Alan van Zuydam-Reynolds got to know her better than most – and he can still vividly recall their last conversation about a fortnight before her death.

Even though Winnie (81) had been in and out of hospital in recent months he says she was full of energy as she quizzed him about the goings-on in local politics.

Although Alan stopped working for Winnie full time a while back they had such a great rapport he’d continued to help her on an ad hoc basis – and as a project coordinator at the parliamentary budget offices in Cape Town he was perfectly placed to give her the gossip she craved.

Alan (56) smiles as he remembers hearing chickens clucking in the background as she chatted to him from her home in Soweto.

“I drafted a letter for her a few weeks ago,” he recalls.

Over the years, working so closely with her, he got to see what made Mam’ Winnie tick. And he says she had a softer, warmer side that was often overlooked.

Alan says like any mother Winnie never stopped worrying about her children.