Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the former wife of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, died on Monday aged 81. Winnie, who was married to Mandela for 38 years, played a high-profile role in the struggle to end white-minority rule, but her place in history was stained by controversy and accusations of violence. She died peacefully surrounded by her family following a long illness that kept her in and out of hospital since the start of the year, family spokesman Victor Dlamini said in a statement. “She fought valiantly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country,” he said. “She kept the memory of her imprisoned husband Nelson Mandela alive during his years on Robben Island and helped give the struggle for justice in South Africa one its most recognizable faces.” The nature of her illness was not disclosed. Madikizela Mandela’s death triggered an outpouring of tributes to one of the countrys defining and most divisive figures. President Cyril Ramaphosa led an outpouring of grief over her death in South Africa. “Today we have lost a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a comrade, a leader and an icon,” said Ramaphosa, who was expected to visit the family home later on Monday. Anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu described her as "a defining symbol" of the battle against oppression. "She refused to be bowed by the imprisonment of her husband, the perpetual harassment of her family by security forces, detentions, bannings and banishment," Tutu said. "Her courageous defiance was deeply inspirational to me, and to generations of activists." In the ruling African National Congress (ANC), head of policy Jeff Radebe described her as "an icon of the revolutionary struggle." Most of Winnies marriage to Nelson was spent apart, with Nelson imprisoned for 27 years, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone and to keep alive his political dream under the repressive white-minority regime. But her reputation came under damaging scrutiny in the twilight years of apartheid rule. In 1986, she was widely linked to "necklacing", when suspected traitors were burnt alive by a petrol-soaked car tire being put over their head and set alight. In 1990 the world watched when Nelson Mandela finally walked out of prison -- hand in hand with Winnie. The following year, she was convicted of kidnapping and assault over the killing of Stompie Moeketsi, a 14-year-old boy. In 1992, the Mandelas separated, and then divorced in 1996, after a legal wrangle that revealed she had had an affair with a young bodyguard. During her old age, she re-emerged as a respected elder who was feted as a living reminder of the late Mandela and of the long campaign against apartheid. Just last month, she was shown in television footage joking with Ramaphosa, who paid a courtesy call to her home in Soweto, the township where she lived for decades. Dressed in full ANC colors of yellow, black and green, she asked Ramaphosa, who is known for his morning runs, "Why dont you get tired?" "We cant get tired when you have given us work to do‚" Ramaphosa said, paying fulsome praise to her appearance. She had also expressed support for the current leadership of the ANC party -- which her husband led to power in the euphoric post-apartheid elections of 1994. The SABC state broadcaster said she had attended church in Soweto on Easter Friday before being admitted to hospital complaining of flu. She had also suffered from diabetes for some years.