Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 5, 1991                   TAG: 9102050031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA                                LENGTH: Medium

LACK OF PROOF CLAIMED IN WINNIE MANDELA TRIAL

The long-awaited case opened in a Johannesburg court more than two years after a crime that left a 14-year-old boy dead and raised questions about Winnie Mandela's integrity. The outcome of the case could affect the credibility of her famous husband, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela.

Prosecutors were given until today to respond to defense motions that some charges against Winnie Mandela be dropped. Appearing with Mandela were three co-defendants, whose attorneys also demanded that all charges against their clients be dismissed.

Afterward, Mandela walked smiling from the courthouse accompanied by her husband. She jubilantly raised her clenched fist in salute as admirers crowded around and shouted "Viva, Viva!"

Inside the courtroom, Mandela appeared relaxed as she sat in the dock with co-defendants Johan Morgan, Xoliswa Felati, and her daughter, Mompumelelo Felati.

The court was packed with leaders of the African National Congress, including Mandela, South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo, ANC Secretary-General Alred Nzo and ANC paramilitary leader Chris Hani.

Mandela has denied allegations she participated in the kidnapping and assault of four youths in December 1988. The youngest, 14-year-old Stompei Seipei, was killed.

Prosecutors say members of Mandela's former bodyguard unit, the Mandela United Football Club, abducted the youths and took them to Mandela's Soweto home, where the beatings allegedly occurred. A judge has ruled Mandela was present during the assault.

According to prosecutors, the bodyguards were motivated by accusations that the four youths had sexual relations with a white Methodist minister and that Stompei was a police spy.

Nelson Mandela was in prison at the time, and the controversial bodyguard unit was disbanded after the incident. Jerry Richardson, who was head of the bodyguard unit, was convicted of murder in the case and is appealing a death sentence.

George Bizos, Winnie Mandela's main attorney, said the kidnapping charges should be dropped, alleging prosecutors failed to back them up with specifics so the defense could prepare an adequate case.

Bizos said assault charges should be treated in a separate case.

Attorneys for Morgan and the Felatis made motions for charges against their clients to be dropped. They also said prosecutors had not provided adequate evidence.

For years, controversy has surrounded Mandela, a flamboyant activist who has shocked opponents and delighted supporters with blistering attacks on apartheid and anything else that displeases her.

But more is at stake than her future. The trial also poses a threat to the credibility of Nelson Mandela and to talks between the government and black leaders on ending white-minority rule.

If Mandela is convicted, political observers say, many blacks will see her as a victim of the white government, creating more distrust at a time when black and white leaders are trying to build trust.