The Trials of Winnie Mandela

Chapter 1: MRS MANDELA - The Wife of Nelson Mandela (1936 – 1976)

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died, and South Africa is divided over how she should be remembered. As the nation mourns and debates whether she was saint or sinner, the story returns to 1952, when a young Winnie leaves her rural home for Johannesburg and meets Nelson Mandela, a rising leader of the anti-apartheid movement. Their marriage places her at the centre of the struggle – and in the sights of the apartheid security police. When Nelson is sentenced to life in prison, Winnie becomes both symbol and target, enduring years of detention, torture and bannings from the notorious apartheid security police. Hardening under the relentless siege and becoming increasingly uncompromising, she declares she is prepared to kill for her ideals. At their table decades later, her granddaughters, Swati and Zaziwe, begin where history leaves off: how did the first black medical social worker become a woman the world would one day fear and revere in equal measure?