DARK SECRETS: Jonny steinberg | Vintage Vibes

Nelson Mandela was a hard man who played a hard game. What if he was in Ramaphosa’s shoes?

In 2023 South African author Jonny Steinberg published a book on former South African president Nelson Mandela and his tumultuous marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. To mark the 107th anniversary of Mandela’s birth, Steinberg wrote the following as an introduction to our newsletter of 18 July 2025.

The Conversation · Jul 17, 2025

‘She is one of our heroines’: reviled, now revered, Winnie Mandela wins over young South Africa

The legacy of the activist, ANC politician and wife of Nelson Mandela has growing appeal, despite her refusal to apologise for crimes

The Guardian - UK · Jul 28, 2024

Winnie and Mandela biography: a masterful tale of South Africa's troubled, iconic power couple

A new book on South African liberation struggle icons Nelson and Winnie Mandela is a masterful biography of the pair. It’s a work of scholarship involving an immense body of primary and secondary research, written with flair and panache but in an easy and compelling style, making it accessible to…

The Conversation · Aug 31, 2023