Madikizela-Mandela's Xhosa name was Nomzamo ("She who tries"). She was born in the village of Mbongweni, Bizana, Pondoland, in what is now the Eastern Cape province. She was the fourth of eight children, seven sisters and a brother. Her parents, Columbus and Gertrude, who had a white father, and Xhosa mother, were both teachers.
Marriage to Nelson Mandela
She met the lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1957, when he was still married to Evelyn Mase.  She was 22 years old and standing at a bus stop in Soweto when Mandela first saw her and charmed her, securing a lunch date the following week. The couple married in 1958 and had two daughters, Zenani (born 1958) and Zindziwa (born 1960). Mandela was arrested and jailed in 1963, and was not released until 1990.  The couple separated in 1992. They finalised their divorce in March 1996 with an unspecified out-of-court settlement. During the divorce hearing, Nelson Mandela rejected Madikizela-Mandela's assertion that arbitration could salvage the marriage, and cited her infidelity as a cause of the divorce, saying "... I am determined to get rid of the marriage". Her attempt to obtain a settlement up to US$5million (R70 million) -- half of what she claimed her ex-husband was worth -- was dismissed when she failed to appear in court for a settlement hearing.  When asked in a 1994 interview about the possibility of reconciliation, she said: "I am not fighting to be the country's First Lady. In fact, I am not the sort of person to carry beautiful flowers and be an ornament to everyone."  Madikizela-Mandela was involved in a lawsuit at the time of her death, claiming that she was entitled to Mandela's homestead in Qunu, through customary law, despite her divorce from Nelson Mandela in 1996. Her case was dismissed by the Mthatha High Court in 2016, and she was reportedly preparing to appeal to the Constitutional Court at the time of her death, after failing at the Supreme Court of Appeal in January 2018.

Q: When did they meet?
A: She met the lawyer and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1957, when he was still married to Evelyn Mase.

Q: What happened next?
A: She was 22 years old and standing at a bus stop in Soweto when Mandela first saw her and charmed her, securing

Q: Did they start dating?
A: securing a lunch date the following week.
When did they marry?
The couple married in 1958 and had two daughters,
The couple married in 1958 and had two daughters,