Winnie Madikizela-Mandela remains one of South Africa’s most admired and disputed figures: hailed by many as a fearless anti-apartheid activist and criticized by others over alleged links to violence in the 1980s. A new Netflix documentary series, The Trials of Winnie Mandela, has two of her granddaughters returning to that fraught legacy. The series is currently available only in Africa.
Sisters Princess Swati Dlamini-Mandela and Princess Zaziwe Mandela-Manaway say their intention was to produce a measured portrait. In the trailer they confront blunt questions about their grandmother’s record — “How do you ask your grandmother, are you a murderer, are you a kidnapper?” — and wrestle with how to combine affection and accountability. “I’m so proud of this work, because it is not just a myopic view of a person that we love, but also who is complex, and has had a complex history,” Dlamini-Mandela, 47, says.
Winnie’s public life was often presented in sharp contrast to Nelson Mandela’s global image as a reconciler. Nelson spent 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activism and later became South Africa’s first Black president. While he was jailed, Winnie carried much of the struggle at home, enduring repeated arrests, solitary confinement and state harassment. Filming for the Netflix series began before her death in 2018 at age 81, so she appears and speaks in parts of the documentary.
Her activism exacted a heavy personal toll. In 1969 she spent 491 days in solitary confinement, faced routine detention and torture, had her Soweto home raided and was banished to Brandfort to curtail her influence. Despite that repression, she remained defiant and visible, and many South Africans remember her as someone who risked her life for freedom.
At the same time, Winnie’s name became linked with violence in the townships. A group of youths associated with her, known as the Mandela United Football Club, was implicated in vigilante abductions and killings of people suspected of informing to apartheid security forces, including minors. In 1997 she testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; under questioning by Archbishop Desmond Tutu she said, “Things went horribly wrong…for that I am deeply sorry.” The commission found her “politically and morally accountable” for crimes committed by associates.
Controversy also centered on rhetoric critics say condoned harsh punishments, notably comments in 1986 that many interpreted as endorsing necklacing, a brutal execution method. Within the African National Congress there were concerns about her growing militancy. Her private life drew scrutiny too: alleged affairs while Nelson was imprisoned fueled negative media narratives and contributed to their divorce in 1996, for which Winnie often bore public blame.
In recent years younger South Africans have begun reassessing her legacy, frequently through a feminist lens. Johannesburg theater director Momo Matsunyane, creator of The Cry of Winnie Mandela, argues that the treatment of Winnie was gendered: “I wholeheartedly don’t believe that a male comrade would’ve waited 27 years for a wife’s return. The alleged affair feels like something they used against her in order to vilify her,” she says. Matsunyane adds that recognizing alleged involvement in violent episodes does not erase the fact that Winnie was “fiercely resilient in the face of a greatly violent and inhumane system.”
Since her death Winnie’s popular image has experienced a revival: thousands mourned outside her home in 2018, her image appears on T-shirts and murals, a major Johannesburg road now bears her name, and social media trended with the hashtag #SheDidn’tDieSheMultiplied, reflecting how many young people identify with her defiance.
For her granddaughters, personal memories often outweigh headlines. They recall Sunday dinners, hugs and a grandmother who offered advice and warmth; they say they were children first and relatives of famous figures later. The Netflix series aims to probe those tensions — a woman both symbol and suspect, family figure and political actor — using archival footage, testimony and family perspective to spark conversation rather than reach a tidy verdict on a life that remains inspirational and contentious.