JOHANNESBURG – ANC stalwart Tokyo Sexwale recalled on Tuesday how the late Winnie-Madikizela Mandela always rose against adversity.

Sexwale applauded the struggle icon for her sense of selflessness.

WATCH: The cost of freedom was high, including for Mama Winnie’s family

According to Sexwale: “I lived with her when I was only 17, for three years in her house. I saw the brutality, I saw the beatings, I saw the slappings. She fought all the time when the police came to search the house to look for all sort of things.

“She never locked the door because she accepted that she lived in a prison. I saw the humiliation of that women, but she stood and she gave this country her all in the struggle towards freedom, for social justice, for democracy, for non-racialism, for non-sexism as well.”

You can watch the video of Sexwale above. 

eNCA