South Africa's Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has gone to court with cheering supporters to appeal a fraud conviction which could see the one-time "Mother of the Nation" sent to prison.
The 67-year-old former wife of former President Nelson Mandela, whose political star has dimmed amid repeated legal troubles, was sentenced to a total of five years in prison last year for a fraud scheme involving bogus bank loans.
The court said it expected Madikizela-Mandela, considered by some to be an anti-apartheid heroine, to spend at least eight months behind bars, with the rest served through correctional supervision.
Both Madikizela-Mandela and her broker Adi Moolman, who was also found guilty and sentenced to jail in the case, maintained their innocence and have been free on bail pending appeal.
Madikizela-Mandela resigned from parliament and abandoned her political career after last year's conviction, but remains extremely popular among poor black South Africans.
Madikzela-Mandela's lawyer Ishmael Semenya told the court his client was not motivated by personal gain when she signed letters seeking bank loans for bogus employees of the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League, which she then headed.
"The context within which the activities occurred represents an attempt to...do a social good," Semenya told the court, according to the South African Press Association (SAPA).
Semenya also said the court, if it upheld the sentence, should replace all jail time with correctional supervision.
Known as "Mother of the Nation" for her struggle against apartheid while her former husband was in prison, Madikizela-Mandela was put under house arrest, banned and detained but nevertheless remained a defiant voice of South Africa's black majority.
But in 1991, two years after Nelson Mandela's release, she was accused of involvement in the kidnapping and killing of a 14-year-old activist in Soweto and sentenced to six years in jail. That sentence was reduced to a fine on appeal.
Many of the supporters gathered at the courthouse on Monday said Madikizela-Mandela -- who was divorced from Nelson Mandela in 1996 -- would rise again.
"This woman has done a lot for us," said Ntemi Ncwana, a 78-year-old who appeared draped in a flag bearing a picture of Madikizela-Mandela.
"We love her. If she signed those documents it's because she trusted every comrade... She never suspected anyone in the ANC."