1991 — Winnie Mandela Sentenced to Prison

On May 14, 1991, Winnie Mandela was sentenced to six years in prison for the kidnapping of 14-year-old activist Stompie Seipei, whose body was later found near her Soweto home. The case centered on her bodyguards, the Mandela United Football Club, and events that shocked a country still finding its way toward freedom.

The trial turned South Africa's most celebrated liberation figure into its most controversial. On appeal the sentence was reduced to a fine, but the judgment in public life had already been delivered. The fall from grace, however, was already complete, and it shadowed the final years of the long struggle itself.