Zindzi Mandela, the youngest daughter of South Africa’s First Black President Nelson Mandela and anti-apartheid activist Winnie Mandela’s, has died at age 59.
What We Know:
- Zindziswa Mandela, also known as Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane, was born in Soweto, South Africa in 1960 to Nelson Mandela, who passed in 2013, and his wife Winnie Mandela, who passed in 2018.
- According to a statement from the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mandela died in a Johannesburg hospital early Monday morning. The cause of death is unknown at this time, and a detailed report is expected to be released at a later time.
- President Ramaphosa tweeted his condolences in a thread stating, “Zindzi Mandela was a household name nationally and internationally, who during our years of struggle brought home the inhumanity of the apartheid system and the unshakeable resolve of our fight for freedom.”
I offer my deep condolences to the Mandela family as we mourn the passing of a fearless political activist who was a leader in her own right. Our sadness is compounded by this loss being visited upon us just days before the world marks the birthday of the great Nelson Mandela. pic.twitter.com/RC0YQ6VEvf
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 13, 2020
- Mandela has served as ambassador to Denmark in 2015 and was designated to become South Africa’s head of mission in Monrovia, Liberia. She previously also served as deputy president of the Soweto Youth Congress, member of the Release Mandela Campaign, and was an underground operative of Umkhonto we Sizwe, an organization partly founded by her father serving as “the military wing of the African National Congress.”
- Zindzi is survived by her husband, Molapo Motlhajwa, their four children, Zoleka Mandela, Zondwa Mandela, Bambatha Mandela, Zwelabo Mandela-Hlongwane, and a host of other relatives and loved ones. Only two of Nelson Mandela’s six children remain, Zenani Dlamini, Zindzi’s sister, and Pumla Makaziwe Mandela, Zindzi’s half-sister.
The Mandela Legacy Foundation stated memorial and funeral arrangements for Zindzi would be announced within the week. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Zindzi Mandela.
