APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) One of South Africa’s late former president Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, Zoleka Mandela, has died from cancer, her family confirmed on Tuesday.
The family said in a statement that Zoleka, aged 43, died on Monday evening following a long battle with cancer.
She had announced that her cancer had returned in August 2022, and a month later Zoleka began treatment for the disease which had attacked her lungs, liver, ribs, spinal cord and hips, the family said.
Dubbed “the cancer warrior”, Zoleka was an activist who had opened up about her terminal illness – and a plan for the eventuality of her death, according to the statement.
An author who wrote “When Hope Whispers”, Zoleka was the granddaughter of Mandela and his late former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
She, in turn, was the daughter of the late ambassador Zindzi Mandela who passed away in 2020.
NM/jn/APA