Zikhona Valela is an Historian, writer, researcher. Her writing has been published in publications such as New Frame, Johannesburg Review of Books and Mail and Guardian. She holds an MA in History on Winnie Madikizela-Mandela which she obtained from Rhodes University in 2017. She has served as consulting historian for The Cultural Forge in Johannesburg, and has consulted on various upcoming historical projects some of which include the struggle icon Madikizela-Mandela.