As the host of The Midday Report on 702 and Cape Talk, a weekly columnist for EWN, and an award-winning author, Mandy Wiener is one of the most trusted voices in South Africa’s media landscape.

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ABOUT MANDY

Mandy is one of the country’s best known and most credible journalists and authors. She is the current host of the Midday Report on 702 and Cape Talk and is a regular columnist for EWN.

She has published numerous best-selling books and is a prominent social media commentator.

For the past two decades Mandy has worked as a multi award-winning reporter specialising in investigative journalism and legal matters.

Covering stories such as the trial of former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi and the murder of Brett Kebble, she earned a reputation for her work in exposing South Africa’s criminal underworld. These included exposes on Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, Teazers boss Lolly Jackson and other mysterious murders.

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WRITING

Mandy was short-listed in the prestigious ‘Alan Paton Sunday Times Literary Awards’ for her book, ‘Killing Kebble’ which was a local publishing phenomenon, selling in excess of 100 000 copies. It was also chosen as Jenny Crwys-Williams’ ‘Book of the Year’ in 2011.

Her second book, ‘My Second Initiation’, written with former head of the NPA Vusi Pikoli, was also short-listed for the Alan Paton award and was Crwys-William’s non-fiction book of the year in 2013. In 2014, she published ‘Behind The Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story’ with her colleague Barry Bateman.

The book was released internationally and contained new, exclusive information about the trial. Her 2018 book, Ministry of Crime, took a deep dive into organised crime, police corruption and politics. In 2020, Mandy published The Whistleblowers highlighting the stories of several South African whistleblowers and advocating for a change in legislation and culture.

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SPEAKING

Mandy is a regular feature on the speaking circuit. She addresses conferences, corporates and gatherings and also facilitates panels and discussions with a unique perspective on current affairs and how history unfolds in South Africa.

She focuses on ‘Hope Dealers’: the good people who did their jobs, the whistleblowers who felt compelled to speak truth to power, the civil society activists who stepped into the breach and the journalists who dug up the dirt to hold authorities to account.

There are lessons in these stories for corporates and for individuals on what needs to be done to improve governance, to change legislation and to create a speak-up culture in order to root out corruption. Most importantly these stories will inspire the audience not to be apathetic or complacent, but to fight for a better South Africa.

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MEDIA TRAINING

Thanks to her extensive background in media and journalism, Mandy has gained a lifetime of insight into how best to handle interviews and media.

In personalised training sessions, she offers theory and practical training, covering topics such as the SA media landscape, messaging for media, media rights and how to deal with journalists and crisis communications. Sessions also include training on writing for media, including thought leadership and opinion pieces. Click the button below to book Mandy for media training.

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ACCOLADES

Mandy has won a number of National and Regional Vodacom ‘Journalist of the Year’ awards, has been named ‘The CNN African Radio Journalist of the Year’ and has received several commendations in the Webber Wentzel ‘Legal Journalist of the Year’ awards.

In addition, she has received the National Press Club award in the Radio Category and the Social Media category and was awarded the ‘Rising Star – Women in the Media’ award in 2011.

On the writing front, Mandy was short-listed in the prestigious ‘Alan Paton Sunday Times Literary Awards’ for her book, ‘Killing Kebble’ which was a local publishing phenomenon, selling in excess of 100 000 copies. It was also chosen as Jenny Crwys-Williams’ ‘Book of the Year’ in 2011. Mandy’s second book, ‘My Second Initiation’, written with former head of the NPA Vusi Pikoli, was also short-listed for the Alan Paton award and was Crwys-William’s non-fiction book of the year in 2013. Ministry of Crime was long-listed for the Alan Paton.

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Mandy is the host of Great African Crimes, the HISTORY Channel Africa documentary series that became the channel’s top primetime broadcast in 2024 and returns with a second season of meticulously researched, true-crime storytelling.

Blending her award-winning investigative experience with on-camera depth, Mandy travels to the original scenes of some of the continent’s most astonishing historic crimes—cases like South Africa’s first unrecorded serial killer, Pierre Basson, and Maria Mouton, whose 18th-century trial shocked society. The series goes far beyond retelling events: each episode unpacks the cultural, historical, and psychological forces surrounding these buried stories, supported by expert interviews and extensive archival research. Mandy’s presence brings gravity, empathy, and sharp insight to these layered narratives, guiding viewers through mysteries that blend crime, history, and human drama into compelling, atmospheric storytelling.

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TWITTER

RT @SkyNews: BREAKING: David Walliams has strongly denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women after publisher HarperCollin…

Remember Tintswalo? Well she's now 31 and going through a quarter-life crisis. 2025 has been a year of facing reality and self reflection for South Africa. We are going to have to urgently decide what our identity is and what we want our future to be if we are going to be any

On Monday (Dec 15) an anonymous donor walked into a PEP store in Aberdeen, Eastern Cape, and paid off all 260 unpaid lay-bys, totalling R132 500.
The Good Samaritan simply asked store staff how many lay-bys were outstanding and then settled the full amount on the spot.
“We were

The hero who tackled and disarmed one of the terrorists has been identified as Ahmed El Ahmed. He was shot twice during the incident and is currently recovering in the hospital.

RT @RationalSettler: This is an interview with Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) right after the shooting. While I am horrified at his injuries I…

I'm sure many of you follow @Ostrov_A, but you may not know that he moved back to Australia a few weeks ago with his family. He was at the Hanukkah party at Bondi Beach and was injured, apparently grazed by a bullet. Pray for him! His message: "The bastards won't win!"

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Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener2 days ago
Remember Tintswalo? Well she's now 31 and going through a quarter-life crisis.

2025 has been a year of introspection for South Africa.

We are going to have to urgently decide what our identity is and what we want our future to be if we are going to be any different in 2026 and beyond.

My final column for the year:

Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener3 days ago
For the past couple of decades I’ve had two large silver plastic boxes stashed away. These boxes have followed me through life from singledom and living in my own apartment, to living in sin in my first house, then to a second house and when I moved into my forever home, I put them into storage.

This week we decided to clear out our storage unit and so the big silver boxes arrived on my doorstep and I was forced to confront the realities of stowed away secrets and hidden memories from the past.

That last bit was just for dramatic effect. There’s no terrible dark secret.

But what I found was diaries, letters, every piece of correspondence the school ever sent my parents, every school project. It was documentary evidence of my formative years. I wrote everything down!

What I learnt was that from primary school, I always wanted to be a journalist. My Grade 6 career project was on journalism as a career. My Grade 4 project was a magazine that reads like a YOU of the Wild West. My high school Grade 11 project was a written catalogue of my life up until that point. There are creative writing pieces, essays, all my speeches from all the public speaking competitions and Eisteddfods that I entered.

The aptitude test I did in Matric told me to go into a career in journalism, broadcasting or law. My bank balance regrets my decision.

People often ask me if I always wanted to be a journalist and how I knew. My answer is always, ‘I just knew’. It is something inherent, you know it in your bones and it’s not for everyone. I just always knew it was what I wanted to do. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t know and I took a gap year after school, but the dream was always there.

In my Grade 11 life project I write that I just knew I was going to be successful and be famous. A bit naïve and presumptuous of me at 17! I didn’t know how it was going to happen but it was going to happen.

Twenty five years later, I think teenage Mandy would be pretty chuffed with how it turned out.

Wait until you see what is in my career silver box…
Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener1 week ago
May the light of Hanukkah never be dimmed.

Light will always overcome the darkness.
Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener1 week ago
Horrific scenes coming out from Sydney where terrorists opened fire on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured and the families of those who were killed.

Incredible heroes walk among us and the video of one of the shooters being disarmed is powerful.

The Australian government was warned multiple times.

A devastating day for Jews around the world.

May the light of Hanukkah never be dimmed.
Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener1 week ago
Final media training session of the year and with one of my favourite clients.

It's been a full year and I've trained hundreds of CEOs, executives and managers on how to leverage interviews, how to make the most out of media engagements and how to see it as an opportunity.

We in the media want people to do better interviews, to tell better stories and to be interesting and engaging. It's in our listeners, viewers and readers interest.

Thank you to all the PR agencies and corporate clients that have trusted me this year to share the wisdom and decades of experience in the game.

Bookings are open for next year! mandy@mandywiener.com - I'm also now doing presentation and panel training too, as well as crisis simulations for organisations.
Mandy Wiener
Mandy Wiener1 week ago
Whoever takes over as NPA head is going to have to be a superhero with a spine of steel.

They will have to withstand enormous pressure. They will have to be able to manoeuvre through a politicised environment but remain untainted. They will have to have a sharp legal mind and be a good, ethical person. They will have to have supreme confidence and instil the team with an ethos of professionalism.

This is all in an organisation that was eviscerated and profoundly damaged by state capture.
We are looking for a superhuman candidate.

Whoever takes the job will face extreme expectations.

PODCASTS

BOOKS

Loved your presentation, you're on top of your game and a very dedicate investigative journalist. Our country is all the better for your positive insight into the way forward for preservation of our democracy and economy.

Mandy Wiener's talk was inspiring, urging us to embrace collaboration and active citizenship. I left motivated to flip the narrative and find hope for South Africa's future.

Mandy delivered an excellent, transparent, and thought-provoking keynote at the 17th Annual Africa ACFE Conference.

Mandy delivered an insightful talk on the political landscape, inspiring us with stories of civil servants' initiatives and communities uniting in times of need. Her message highlighted the beauty and potential of a united South Africa.