Winnie Mandela `had love rival killed'

President Nelson Mandela's former wife Winnie has been linked to the killing of a young woman who was found in a shallow grave after allegedly coming between Mrs Mandela and a young revolutionary with whom she was infatuated.

This killing - the eighth to which Mrs Madikezela-Mandela has been connected in testimony before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission - came to light in a TV interview with Jerry Richardson, former coach of the "Mandela United Football Club", her notorious palace guard. He is seeking amnesty for crimes, claiming they were carried out on the orders of Mrs Mandela.

Richardson confessed to the fatal stabbing of Kuki Zwane, a 23-year- old who grew up with Mrs Mandela's daughter and was a frequent visitor to the Mandela home, in December 1988.

Xoliswa Falati, who moved into Mrs Mandela's house in the month of the killing and has also applied for amnesty, alleges that Winnie and Kuki were rivals for the love of a revolutionary called Shakes. When Kuki fell pregnant, Ms Falati claims, Mrs Mandela turned against her. "It had nothing to do with politics," she said. "Mandela hated her because she was young and beautiful."

Mrs Mandela, a contender for the ANC's deputy presidency, could not be reached for comment, but she has previously excoriated the Commission for giving credence to "the banal assertions of ... criminals" intent on "butchering my character".

Broken idol, Section 2