She has been called the raging flame of the apartheid struggle. She had stood by her husband for nearly three decades while he was imprisoned.

She, herself, had been thrown into solitary confinement for 17 months. Her homes had been firebombed and her telephones tapped. Spies were planted among her friends.

Through all of that she emerged a champion of the poor and a fighter for justice. She was the one the apartheid master could not break. However when white minority rule finally ended, something went wrong.

Last spring, the woman once called the mother of a nation by an entire continent was convicted of dozens of counts of theft and fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's status as a fallen anti-apartheid heroine effectively began in 1997 when she was accused of ordering torture and killings in the late 1980s.

Though one of the most powerful and influential leaders in the fight against apartheid, a South African court branded her a thief and convicted her for her role in a scheme to steal more than $100,000 from false bank loans and funeral policies.

Many of the loans had been granted to poor people, who would not have qualified without signed letters from Madikizela-Mandela. In sentencing however, the judge, Peet Johnson, made it clear that she also profited from the deals.

While the judge acknowledged Madikizela-Mandela's contributions to the building of South Africa's first full democracy, he said her iconic status did not place her above the law.

"Only a fool would underplay the important role you have played in this country," he said, and adding that "Somewhere, it seems, something went wrong."

Though she said she would appeal, this was just the latest saga among the many scandals that have swirled around her since apartheid rule ended in South Africa about a decade ago.

In 1991, Madikizela-Mandela was convicted of kidnapping and of being an accessory to an assault in connection with the death of a 15-year-old township boy. She and Mr. Mandela separated shortly afterward, and later divorced in 1996.

The former president stunned the world during his divorce proceedings when he spoke candidly of his wifes waywardness and letters to lovers that were incompatible with a marital relationship. Her brazen infidelity he said after he came out of jail led him to become the loneliest man during the time I stayed with her.

She had also been removed from Mr. Mandela's cabinet following charges of impropriety and was sued for her failure to make mortgage payments for the elegant home she had built in Soweto.

In 1997, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu concluded that she probably had knowledge of kidnappings and murders and tried to cover them up. In particular, she was probably responsible for the disappearance of two young men whose bodies have never been found.

But despite her trials and tribulations, Madikizela-Mandela remained ever popular, and remained in public life. This latest trial and conviction forced her to step aside for the moment.

"I intend to spend my time henceforth to do the work that I started in my early life and to bind my destiny with everyone with whom I share the ideals of a just South Africa," she wrote in a statement. She said she would resign from her seat in Parliament, her presidency of the African National Congress Women's League and her membership on the A.N.C. executive council.

As with all her trials those proceedings were the focus of intense public scrutiny, with hundreds of supporters standing vigil outside the courtroom and with newspapers and radio waves full of debate about whether Madikizela-Mandela should go to jail.