South Africa’s ambassador to Denmark, Zindzi Mandela, died at a Johannesburg hospital early Monday, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor has announced.
Expressing her deep condolences to the Mandela family, friends and colleagues, Pandor said: “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. May her soul rest in peace.”
Zindzi, aged 59, was the second daughter to Nelson and Winnie Mandela who are both late.
The late diplomat’s death has occurred on the same day that Nelson Mandela’s eldest son, Madiba Thembekile — also known as Thembi — died in a car accident on 13 July 1969.
Zindzi was posted to Denmark in 2015 and had been designated to become South Africa’s Head of Mission in Monrovia, Liberia before her death, the diplomacy said.
NM/jn/APA