Zindzi Mandela the youngest daughter of Nelson Mandela died at age of 59. Nelson Mandela was first South Africa’s black President.
Since 2015, Zindzi Mandela was ambassador to Denmark at time of her death. The cause of her death is still unknown.
She died in Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Monday morning, Public broadcaster SABC said.
Zindzi worked as an antipartheid activist and temporarily served as the nation’s first lady following her father’s election.
She studied law at Cape Town University. In 1978 she wrote an book called ” Black as I am”.
She rose to international prominence when she read out her father’s rejection of then-President PW Botha’s offer for freedom in 1985.
“The 59-year-old daughter of former president Nelson Mandela and struggle stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, passed away at a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of this morning,” said public broadcaster SABC.
“This is untimely. She still had a role to play in the transformation of our own society and a bigger role to play even in the African National Congress,” said ANC spokesman Pule Mabe.
“Zindzi will not only be remembered as a daughter of our struggle heroes, Tata Nelson and Mama Winnie Mandela, but as a struggle heroine in her own right. She served South Africa well,” Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations, said in a short statement Monday morning.
