Drama about Winnie Mandela

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Photo / Supplied.

South African State Theatre will tackle the triumphant and troubled times of the former wife of post-apartheid President Nelson Mandela in a production called Winnie the Opera.

The opera about Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, seen as the face of the African National Congress while her then husband was held for years as a political prisoner, will open next year in Pretoria, its producers said.

The opera focuses on when Madikizela-Mandela was summoned in 1997 before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body charged with investigating wrongs committed during apartheid, to probe the murder of one of her supporters.