Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who wept as thousands of her supporters serenaded her at her 80th birthday party this week, has made a formal complaint of theft after a £4,500 cash gift disappeared from her purse at her Soweto home, a report by The Times of London said.

“Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, who was convicted of a string of fraud and theft offences in 2003, discovered that the money was missing when she took her bag out of her wardrobe to look for bread money,” the report said.

It quoted Kay Makhubela, a police spokesman, as saying: “We’re investigating a case of theft of cash whereby the money was stolen in a house from Orlando West.”

•Photo shows Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.