Senators Raise Mandela Fund
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WASHINGTON — Personal checks from 12 U.S. senators totaling $6,000 were presented to State Department officials today to help the wife of jailed South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela rebuild her badly burned home.
Sen. Howard Metzenbaum gave the checks to Frank Wisner, deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, for delivery to Winnie Mandela.
“This is a statement of personal concern and caring on the part of a broad range of members of the U.S. Senate,” Metzenbaum said.
Winnie Mandela’s home and an adjacent clinic she runs in a black township outside Brandport, South Africa, were severely damaged in an arson fire Tuesday. She has blamed government security forces for the blaze.
The week before, police raided the home after firing rubber bullets to break up a demonstration outside.
Other senators contributing to the fund were Rudy Boschwitz, Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, John Glenn, Daniel Inouye, Nancy Kassebaum, Edward Kennedy, Frank Lautenberg, Claiborne Pell, John Warner and Lowell Weicker.
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