What matters most in a democracy is for the people to be fully involved in the political discourse that gave them their democracy in the first instance.
Why then would a person of Winnie's stature resort to fear and denialism in fear of reprisal by fellow comrades or even worse being declared an outcast in a party she has made her home since her youth?
It is not important when and why the interview was held, it is also trivial to focus on who conducted the interview, but it is important that these views were expressed.
South Africa has an entrenched culture to discourage freedom of expression, a mindset that speaks of the damage caused by the colonial mentality endured by many for years.
What is wrong with having a contrary view when it comes to certain people? We never fought to protect holy cows - neither did we vow to always say the "right" things - we fought to express our views by speaking to power and being true to ourselves. We need to remind ourselves that many died and were jailed solely for the reason of speaking out.
I would love to agree that the question here is uniquely one of the colonial mentality, and of censorship, because it would make it simpler, but I cannot. In countries, which have been torn by atrocious events such as Apartheid as is the case for South Africa or by a genocide for Rwanda, freedom of speech is always judged in the historical context and with the hard learned realization that it can undo reconciliation and revived deep and old resentments within their societies. Societies who have experienced traumatic events are likely to view words as weapons that can erode its hard to maintain cohesion, but inflaming old hateful passions. The reason why Winnie Mandela backed down had nothing to do with censorship, but with her recognition that she had crossed a line that she couldn't crossed if she wanted to still be a revered figure internationally and be invited everywhere to give speeches for a fee. The point is that Winnie Mandela backed down because she is very astute as identity politics and at marketing and knows when words can become not only politically, but also financially costly. In short, Winnie Mandela isn't a victim of censorship, she is a victim of her sense of self and of history. South Africa isn't suffering from its supposed colonial mentality, but rather from its understandable difficulties to let go its history, without insisting that it should be omnipresent in their present and their future because it was so traumatic and bloody.
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