Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

In the normal course of things, journalists want their story, and as soon as they are through with it, they pack their cameras and go. That was never the impression that David Astor gave when you were interviewed by him. It was far deeper than that.

One of the greatest things I fear is letting down my people. I wouldn't live with that type of conscience, of having let down my people after they've been brutalized for so long.

I wanted to be a doctor at some point, and I was always bringing home strays from school: people who were too poor to pay fees or have food. My parents never rebuked me or told me that they were hard-pressed, too.

We shall liberate our country.

I learned to deal with the police... to be tough... to survive.

I am not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do everything I did again if I had to. Everything.

The solution of this country's problems lies in black hands.

We have a shared destiny, a shared responsibility to save the world from those who attempt to destroy it.

To me, David Astor was a freedom fighter. To me, he wasn't just a journalist; he was a freedom fighter.

You all must realize that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others - hundreds who languished in prison and died. Many unsung and unknown heroes of the struggle.

My continent knows more about me than I do myself.

I'm like thousands of women in South Africa who lost their men to cities and prisons... I stand defiant, tall and strong.

I often wonder why I attract so much criticism.

I was married to the ANC. It was the best marriage I ever had.

Those 18 months in solitary confinement... bruised my soul. If I had had a weapon, I would have fought my way out.

The years of imprisonment hardened me... Perhaps if you have been given a moment to hold back and wait for the next blow, your emotions wouldn't be blunted as they have been in my case. When it happens every day of your life, when that pain becomes a way of life... there is no longer anything I can fear.

I am not the sort of person to carry beautiful flowers and be an ornament to everyone.

I was so hooked by the fight for freedom that nothing mattered to us so long as we fulfilled the dream of years and years of our people being liberated. I thought normal life would come the day after.

It dawned on me then that you either had to survive apartheid, or you had to perish with it. And I decided to survive.