Canada Denies Visa To Winnie Mandela

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OTTAWA, June 6 (Reuters) Canada has denied a visa to South African anti-apartheid leader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was to be the keynote speaker at a fund-raising gala in Toronto because of her criminal record.

Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, had packed her bags and was about to set out for the airport when the Canadian embassy notified her that she would not be allowed to enter the country, organizers of the Toronto event said.

''No reason was given,'' said Carole Adrianns, event director for MusicaNoir, an organization that raises awareness about Africa through cultural projects. ''The Mandela family was very, very confident that they were getting the visa,'' she said.

An official in Ottawa would not comment on Madikizela-Mandela's particular case but said people with past criminal convictions are usually not allowed into the country.

Madikizela-Mandela was convicted in 1991 in the murder of a 14-year-old township activist. Her six-year jail term was reduced to a fine.

''There are some people who are deemed inadmissible to come to Canada for a number of reasons, including that they've been convicted of a serious crime,'' said Marina Wilson, a media relations official at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The 70-year-old Madikizela-Mandela rose to heroine status as a fearsome opponent of South Africa's apartheid regime. But her reputation was tarnished after revelations about the violent activities of the group of supporters she had formed called ''The Mandela United Football Team''.

Courts ruled she was involved in the murder of the teenaged boy, whose body was found near her home with his throat cut.

She also had a public falling-out with her husband after he formed a new government in 1995. They were divorced a year later.

But she still remains a symbol for many because of her battle against apartheid while Nelson Mandela languished in jail for 27 years until his historic release in 1990.

Madikizela-Mandela had just been to New York on May 19 to receive an award for her work on AIDS.

The Toronto event Madikizela-Mandela was to attend will include excerpts from a multimedia opera about her life, called ''The Passion of Winnie'', a creation of composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, and filmmaker Warren Wilensky.