At the height of the apartheid struggle in South Africa, Winnie Mandela, then wife of Nelson Mandela — the first black president of the country — was loved and feared in equal measure. She had built a brand of being a ruthless freedom fighter with a tendency to go to the extreme when dealing with her enemies.

In a detailed interview with Winnie, published by The Independent in March 1995, John Carlin described her as “mountain of a woman, tall, more solid than fat, with formidable shoulders.”

He detailed how his initial admiration of Winnie quickly changed after an investigation into her role in supporting a gang during the later part of the apartheid struggle.

A CCTV Africa documentary on Winnie looks at both sides of her role in the struggle that led to today’s South Africa where black and whites are equals. It also recounts her fall from grace when she was embroiled in murder and human rights violations before Nelson was released from prison after 27 years in 1990.