Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s bodyguards arrested in connection with the death of Stompie Seipei

On this day in history, 4 of Winnie Mandela's (now Madikizela-Mandela) bodyguards, including Jerry Richardson and Jabu Sithole (coach of the Mandela United Football Club) were arrested at her home. The 4 were arrested in connection with the death of Stompie Mokhetsi Seipei, after rumors in mid-February that the Mandela United Football Club had brought the 4 youths to Winnie's home for interrogation. Jerry Richardson was later convicted of Stompie Seipei's murder and sentenced to death. The three surviving youths testified at Mr. Richardson's trial that Winnie helped beat them, despite her assertion that she was absent. In 1991, Winnie Mandela was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault, but her six-year jail sentence was reduced to a fine and a 2 year suspended sentence on appeal. Seipei's body, which according to the police had been stabbed through the neck and dumped at a waste site, was positively identified by his mother. At Seipei's funeral on 25 February 1989, at Tumahole Township in the Orange Free State, the Black community acknowledged his role in organising resistance among school students in 1985. As result of this, he had spent a year in detention at the age of 10, reportedly the country's youngest detainee.