Johannesburg - The ANC Women's League president, Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, surprised South Africans at the weekend by attending the funeral service in Pretoria of South Africa's murdered former first lady, Marike de Klerk, instead of that of ANC stalwart Joe Modise, writes Patrick Laurence
She used the occasion to comment adversely on the high rate of crime in South Africa and to implicitly criticise the ANC-led government of President Thabo Mbeki for its failure, as she sees it, to forge an effective crime-combating strategy.
"Crime has been brought to the attention of each and everyone of us," Ms Madikizela-Mandela told journalists after the service. "No matter who we are or what our standing in the community, we should do something about it as South Africans and as the government".