JOHANNESBURG – Zodwa Zwane, the personal assistant of Winnie Madikizela Mandela, spoke emotionally about uMama’s suffering on Wednesday.

[WATCH] #WinnieMandelaMemorial: #WinnieMandela‘s personal assistant, Zodwa Zwane, pays tribute with moving speech. Courtesy #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/z4pvHWsBhE

— eNCA (@eNCA) April 11, 2018

Zwane said she had told Madikizel-Mandela: “sometimes you feel lonely in the midst of people because people that you love will not be there.”\

Zwane recalled her first meeting with the woman she considered a “mother, friend and boss”.

“I remembered when I was called in for an interview that was on 1 November 2007. When I walked in she looked at me and said: ‘I love your outfit. How did you match these colours? When we got into the office we talked about clothes, she asked me who my designer was, as if I had a designer. I had to say: ‘I have someone who makes my clothes and this person is very perfect.’ And that’s all we talked about that day.”

WATCH: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s great-grandchildren pay tribute to her

Zwane said Easter Monday would never be the same.

#WinnieMandelaMemorial PA Zodwa Zwane : She said I love your outfit and how did you put it and we talked about clothes and she wanted to know who is my designer and very perfect, thats all we talked about.

— KhayelihleKhumalo (@KhayaJames) April 11, 2018

Zwane says I didnt know that Tuesday was not going to come. #WinnieMandelaMemorial

— KhayelihleKhumalo (@KhayaJames) April 11, 2018

eNCA