From our 1999 archives: Winnie Mandela's political career is far from dead To those who wrote Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's political obituary a couple of years back: Look again. In 1997, President Nelson Mandela's former wife took a beating at hearings of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and then suffered an embarrassing defeat in her bid for the deputy presidency of the African National Congress. But when the ANC published its list of candidates for the coming general election, in late February, she was in the No. 10 spot, a position that acknowledges her popularity and that virtually assures she will be returned to Parliament. In case the next generation of party officials should underestimate her support, her recent appearance at a campaign rally here upstaged the man most likely to be the country's next president: Thabo Mbeki. The ups and downs of Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela's private life are also back in the news: She is locked in a feud with Mr. Mandela over the house where they once lived and - in a gesture that flabbergasted the nation - she gave away her wedding ring to the 13-year-old daughter of a former security officer who used to spy on her. Her prominence on the ANC list drew a storm of attacks from opposition parties who were glad to point out that the ANC had promised to propose only "clean" candidates - those with no history of ill-discipline, corruption or a criminal record of a non-political nature. Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela has been convicted of assault and kidnapping, and many similar accusations are still being investigated. Under the country's system of proportional representation, voters do not cast votes for candidates but for a party, which proposes its own candidates. Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was not the only ANC candidate on this year's list with a questionable history. After the list was produced by voting at local levels of the party, Mr. Mbeki, the party leader, said it would be reviewed for undesirables. But the party also made clear that Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela would probably survive the culling process: ANC officials sprang to her defence, saying her behaviour in the past was due to the stresses and hardships she was subjected to when apartheid-era security forces routinely harassed her. Opposition parties, however, countered that even her post-apartheid behaviour was questionable. Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, who leads the ANC's Women's League and is a member of Parliament, rarely attends sessions or makes any contributions. She also owes thousands of dollars to the government for unauthorized trips, mobile phones and cars. Recently, she created a stir when it came to light that she was travelling on a diplomatic passport, though she may no longer be entitled to one. The subject came up when, on private business, she tried to board a British Airways flight to London with more than $1,500 (U.S.) in excess baggage. She could not pay the fees, and other first-class passengers helped her pay the excess, it was widely reported here. She wrote a furious letter to the airline management demanding she be reimbursed. Her popularity, however, seems unquestionable. From the urban sprawl in Soweto to the rural areas of the country's KwaZulu-Natal province, Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela has shown she can draw a crowd. She is a veteran politician, seen one week in a church choir holding a Bible, the next bringing boxes of food and donated clothing to crime victims. Yet within the party she is seen as something of a loose cannon. Of late she has been toeing the party line, however, praising Mr. Mbeki and predicting that he will have the brains and the will to rid the country of crime and bring jobs to the millions of unemployed. Some analysts say her prominence on the candidates" list is a strategic move by the ANC to make sure she does not leave the party to start her own or to join her long-time friend Bantu Holomisa and his fast-growing new United Democratic Movement. At the official start of the ANC campaign in Soweto last month, Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela stole the show. She arrived 45 minutes late, as Mr. Mbeki was reading his speech. But the crowd cheered and yelled so much that he had to stop to acknowledge her with a traditional salute, "Viva the president of the African National Congress Women's League." Even then, however, the crowd kept cheering and Mr. Mbeki laboured through much of his speech unheard. Mr. Mandela, who was also at the event, did not even greet his former wife. Apparently, the two are back in court over the four-room house here, where they lived together before he was sent to prison for 27 years. For years, the house has been under Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela's control, and two years ago she opened it as a museum, charging a $2 entry fee. She raised eyebrows when she also encouraged visitors to buy small vials of dirt from the property for $8. The dirt came in a box labelled "Heroes Acre." Within a few months, Mr. Mandela, who exercised his right to buy the house from the government in 1997, gave it to the Soweto Heritage Trust, a foundation that oversees some of Soweto's other landmarks. Now Mr. Mandela and the trust are moving to evict Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, and she is countersuing, contending that her rights to buy the house, on Vilakazi Street in the Orlando West section of Soweto, were ignored. The house is one of hundreds of identical houses built for blacks under the apartheid government. While she may want the house, Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela is shedding other memorabilia. Earlier this month, in what she called a gesture of reconciliation, she gave away her gold and diamond wedding ring to the daughter of former security policeman, Paul Erasmus, who has admitted that he had spied on her in the past and had taken part in efforts to spread malicious information about her.