ABUJA, Dec 8 (AFP) - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, on Thursday came out firmly and vehemently in favour of sexual abstinence as the only efficient way to fight the spread of AIDS.
"We just have to tell our children to abstain. That's the only way we will prevent AIDS as mothers on the continent," she told a panel discussion at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) in Abuja.
"And we tell our daughters 'It's a very simple remedy, it's called abstinence', she added.
The woman who was nicknamed "the Mother of the Nation" for the courage she showed in fighting the racist apartheid regime remains, despite a series of scandals and controversies, a popular figure in South Africa.
But she was sidelined by the party after being found guilty of fraud in April 2003 and was forced to resign as a member of parliament, as head of the League of Women and as a leader of the African National Congress (ANC).
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