What the Hell is Penelope Doing in Winnie’s story?

Abstract

When I read

The Cry of Winnie Mandela for the first time, it was in manuscript form, without the dedication and front cover that link the story to Sarah Baartman. The first thing I noticed was that the title was without the ‘Madikizela,’ the maiden name that women often insert to signify a personal identity and life other than that of the ‘wife or spouse of.’ Since her divorce Winnie had used Madikizela-Mandela. By ignoring that, the writer was saying that this story was about the absence of that hyphenated space; about having had to live a life, to forge a life, within that famous, yet  confined, name.