Mrs Madikizela-Mandela's nomination followed a fresh allegation about her involvement in the 1988 murder of a teenage boy, Stompie Seipei.

ECONOMIST: South Africa: Winnie??s return | The

At the commission, ANC members and ordinary township residents accused her of attacks on opponents, of ordering Stompie Seipei's murder and of being guilty of involvement in other murders.

BBC: Winnie: 'Africa's Evita'

Jerry Richardson, who was her right-hand man during the thuggish days when she surrounded herself with a gang known as the Mandela United Football Club, and is currently serving a life sentence for Stompie's murder, said this week that she ordered that the boy be killed, but did not herself stab him.

ECONOMIST: South Africa