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Amanda Khoza, Hlabirwa Mabudusha and Chante Schatz
For Youth Day this year, News24 undertook a special project: We gave a voice to the families of children who have died in South Africa. The aim was to hear about the children themselves looking at what they liked doing, their personalities and personal stories about their lives. The aim was not to ask the families to relive the trauma, instead News24 wanted to give families a platform to speak about the children they lost.
Mananki Joyce Seipei lives a simple life.
On a cold winter Wednesday morning, she has already done the washing and hung it on the wire fence in front of her unpainted modest RDP home.
While it was still early in the morning, the soft fleece purple blanket had dried, She then pulled it from the fence, before moving to the next item of clothing, her newly born grandson's grower.
Before heading into the house, she quickly checked if her front burglar guard gate was locked.
When News24 arrived at her home, the team was greeted by a large poster of a young Stompie Seipei, bordered with ANC colours, stuck on the fridge.
"It is the only picture I have of him. The rest are overseas and in Johannesburg museums," said the 62-year-old.
Life during apartheid
The elderly woman, who lives in Sisulu Section, in Parys, was one of 10 children born to Maria and Daniel Lofafa, living in a small house in Parys.
Of the 10 children, there are only three left. Seipei and her two brothers.
She said living under apartheid was difficult.
"It was chaos," she said. And because of that, she distanced herself from getting involved.
"I did not like it," she said, with her arms crossed under her chest.
While growing up, she said there were few opportunities for black people.
"I wanted to be a social worker, but there was no money to further my education."
The woman - wearing a light blue long-sleeved top, with her grey, soft curly hair covered by a caramel doek - said she had attended school until grade eight.
"In 1974, I got pregnant with Stompie."
She blushes when she speaks about her then-boyfriend, who she never married.
"He worked in a firm and we stayed in the same location."
She says, while her son was popularly known as Stompie, his real name was Stompo.
"James, Moeketsi, Stompie Seipei," she said.
Controversy surrounding Stompie's death
Stompie was found dead near Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's house in 1989 and many blamed Madikizela-Mandela for the 14-year-old's death.
According to recent claims, Jerry Richardson, who was convicted of Stompie's murder and who later died in prison, said he had not killed the teenager on Madikizela-Mandela's orders, but had done so to cover his own tracks instead, as he was a spy.
According to a South African Press Association report published in 1997, Stompie was killed on Madikizela-Mandela's instructions to prevent the Mandela "crisis committee" discovering how badly the Mandela United Football Club had assaulted four youths they had abducted from the Soweto Methodist manse.
Richardson, who was the former club "coach", testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Madikizela-Mandela had decided to kill Stompie to cover up what had happened.
The Mandela crisis committee was reportedly formed to secure the release of four boys, including Stompie, who were abducted from Methodist minister Paul Verryn's manse in late December 1988.
Richardson reportedly said he had stabbed Stompie in the neck with garden shears.
"They called him Stompie because he was tiny and short. The media also started to get involved and started to interfere. Eventually everyone started to call him Stompie," Seipei says.
Stompie's political involvement
Seipei described her son as a bright young man.
"He was smart, played outside in the street, and was very active."
Stompie attended Lembede Primary School and, in Grade 4, began to get involved in politics.
"I did not get involved. He knew English and I didn't know how. I did not get involved in his politics."
When Stompie became an activist for the United Democratic Front, he began to change.
"He stopped sleeping at home. One night he came home with his friends who were involved in politics and I chased them away, and he decided to go stay with them wherever they stayed."
The mother of two daughters and three grandsons only found out in 1985 that her son was a political activist.
"He was 11-years-old, but he was brave, he was unstoppable."
'He liked making sure that everyone was happy'
She never heard stories about her son having a girlfriend.
"He always hid stuff from me, because he knew that I would try and stop him."
He liked playing indigenous games like morabaraba and zwipi.
"He liked to make fun of things. He liked making sure that everyone was happy."
Recounting that fateful day when she heard the news that her son had been killed was difficult.
"I was here when he was killed. He had gone to friends."
The elderly woman then politely asked News24 not to ask her questions about the incident, because she had made peace with what had happened, and speaking about it made her uncomfortable.
"If he was still alive, he would have been a successful politician. Stompie was brave. He would have been like Julius Malema if he was still alive."
She said today's youth were no longer brave.
"Back then, politics was a real thing. The youth today are not active enough. They are not brave, so it is hard to give them advice."
'South Africa is better now'
Looking at the state of affairs in the country, she said much had been done to make the country a better place.
"Today people are free and we have services from the government. South Africa is better now. In the past, I would earn R40 for washing, cleaning and doing ironing in white suburbs."
When her mother fell ill, Seipei said she stopped working so as to care for her.
"My mother used to bail Stompie out of jail all the time because she had a job at Checkers. When he was locked, he would write to my mother asking her to bring him food, clothes and a list of other things. He was incarcerated in all types of jails here in Parys. During the state of emergency, he was the youngest to be arrested for his involvement in politics."
On her son's legacy, she said the government was planning to celebrate his life, and was at a fact-finding stage.
These days, Seipei spends most of her time relaxing, enjoying her pension and spending time with her children and grandchildren.
"People visit me and I take them to the see his grave as well."
What makes her most happy is that her son's life was celebrated in Parys.
"There are always celebrations in Parys for the fallen activists. Even on June 16, there is a big celebration, but I never join the youngsters. They teach them about the country's history and about people like Stompie."
