Winnie lambastes Arnie

2005-12-07 08:42

Johannesburg - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela blasted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday for refusing to meet her to discuss clemency for convicted US murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

Williams, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is due to be executed on December 13.

He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1981 for the February 1979 shooting death of a convenience store clerk and the murders of a family of three in a Los Angeles motel less than two weeks later.

He was the co-founder of Los Angeles' notorious Crips gang.

Schwarzenegger refused to meet Madikizela-Mandela to discuss clemency for Williams when she was in the US recently.

"I regret very much that a man who has wined and dined with comrade Mandela (Nelson Mandela) in his house would react in this manner," Madikizela-Mandela said in Johannesburg. "We entertained him in his country. I thought he would have at least a tinge of conscience."

23 years in jail

Williams, who met Madikizela-Mandela several years ago, has asked that he be buried in South Africa. "I want to be buried in South Africa under a yohirimbi tree or my ashes scattered in the Blue Nile river to feed the fish there," Williams wrote in a chapter of one of his books.

The quote was read out by a member of his support group in the US on Tuesday night via telephone.

Williams has spent the past 23 years in jail and has also written various children's books.

Madikizela-Mandela said South Africa had experienced the horrors of capital punishment under apartheid. "We have walked that path many times, and we know that pain only too well," she said.

Madikizela-Mandela said she'd be honoured to carry out Williams' wish to be buried in the country. "I will be honoured to carry out his wish. I will if it happens."

Williams' former wife Bonny Williams-Taylor said from Los Angeles via telephone that Williams' spirit was up and that he has been praying every day and remains optimistic.

- SAPA