Ivor Ichikowitz documents Winnie Mandela’s trials through her voice

After 11 years in the making, a seven-episode documentary based on the life of anti-apartheid icon and wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, debuted on Netflix this week.

The Trials of Winnie Mandela explores the complex life of the late activist through her voice and those of her granddaughters, HRH Princess Zaziwe Manaway and HRH Princess Swati Mandela-Dlamini, who also serves as a producer.

Through the Ichikowitz Family Foundation’s African Oral History Archive, Ivor Ichikowitz, the film’s executive producer, played a big role in the making of the film alongside the late two-time Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Mandy Jacobson.

“When I started this project, I genuinely thought it was going to be a 12-month project and it was going to culminate in a 120-minute conventional documentary giving everyone an in-depth view of Winnie’s life,” Ichikowitz told Sunday Times.

“There were so many layers to Winnie’s story that I could never tell Winnie’s story or the story of the struggle or give a balanced view without digging into these layers. I felt that this was such an important story to tell. Because it was the story of the struggle through Winnie’s eyes.”