Moeketsi "Stompie" Seipei's mother would like to attend Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's funeral but cannot afford to.

Even worse, she may not be able to follow proceedings on TV as her set broke on Easter Monday while she was watching the coverage of Madikizela-Mandela's death on that day.

"I would love to attend the funeral but the problem is that I do not have money," Mananki Joyce Seipei said from her three-bedroom RDP house in Sisulu Section of Tumahole in Parys, Free State, yesterday.

Seipei, 62, said she had met Madikizela-Mandela in 1997 at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), where the struggle stalwart asked for forgiveness and they had embraced each other.

"I'm very sad to hear that Winnie is no more because she and I had made peace."

Stompie was 14 when he died after being tortured at Madikizela-Mandela's house in 1989. He was a child activist with the United Democratic Front.

He was kidnapped by infamous Mandela Football Club coach Jerry Richardson after allegations that the teenager was an apartheid police spy.

Richardson admitted to kidnapping Seipei and torturing him at Madikizela-Mandela's house before taking the youngster to a veld in Diepkloof where he killed him.

Richardson testified at the TRC that he had killed Seipei on the instruction of Madikizela-Mandela. She was sentenced to six years in jail for kidnapping and assault of Seipei and others her but never spent a day in jail.

Richardson later told the commission that he was an apartheid spy.

Seipei said she did not mind that Madikizela-Mandela was never incarcerated.

"As Stompie's parent I was very upset that he had been killed but decided to let it pass."

When the news of Madikizela-Mandela's passing broke on Monday, a few people on social media blamed her for the murder of Stompie.

However, former police commissioner George Fivaz told eNCA yesterday there was no evidence connecting Madikizela-Mandela to the murder.

"To be honest and to give you an answer of integrity, in my opinion nothing surfaced during my investigation of the circumstances to say 'Winnie, you are responsible'," he told the TV station.

Seipei said after her son's death her fortunes had taken a turn for the worse as her asthma and high blood pressure had become bad that she had to resign from work. She was taken care of by Stompie's stepfather, who died last year.

She said her son had been a fearless leader in the mould of the EFF's Julius Malema.

"Stompie was like this naughty boy of the EFF, Malema. He was fearless and secretive about plans relating to the Struggle," she said.

"From the age of 11, Stompie was in and out of prison. He missed out on education because he was too deep into politics, but he was smart."

"Stompie started and spearheaded a political formation called Ma-Fourteen, which used to stone police vehicles, steal alcohol from local taverns and burn houses belonging to municipal councillors," she said.

She said Stompie had spent most of his time commuting between Johannesburg and Free State and that the last time she had seen him was when he was in court for malicious damage to state vehicles.