Zindzi Mandela tested positive for Covid-19, says son

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Zindziswa, also known as Zindzi, was the South African ambassador to Denmark and the youngest daughter of former president Nelson Mandela, at the time of her death, her son, Zondwa, has confirmed she tested positive for COVID-19.

Zindzi Mandela died a day before the anniversary of the death of Mandela's eldest son, Thembekile, who died in a car accident. Speaking on Full View on the SABC on Wednesday night, the 35-year-old confirmed the news but it was not yet clear what her cause of death was as they were still awaiting the results of her post mortem.

 

"There were other tests that were conducted and my mother did in fact test positive for Covid-19 on the day of her passing. Although this doesn't, therefore, mean that she died of COVID-related complications but simply that she tested positive for it." “Several other tests have been done and those tests will give us further information as to what could have led to her untimely death,” he added. Zondwa also confirmed his mother would be buried on Friday morning.

 

He said the family has chosen to bury her on Friday and not on Saturday as the 18 July would be her father Nelson Mandela's birthday. Zondwa described his mother as a resilient fighter and someone who remained true to herself. "Very importantly, she was an amazing mother who ensured that we were given the strength to live according to our own purpose and journey. "For someone who came from such a strong family, she knew that she needed to impart our own identity within in so that we could actually lead and carry on our own legacies."

 

Zondwa said his mother should be remembered for the good-natured person she was. "She was a person that connected the family to its cultural roots, she was a person who loved, she had a great amount of friends and we want to continue to celebrate that happy side and amazing side of her. "She remained true to herself, was free to speak her mind regardless of the occasion." Zindziswa, who had been South Africa's ambassador to Denmark since 2015, died in the early hours of Monday in a Johannesburg hospital. She was 59.

 

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said it was left heartbroken by her death. "Zindzi will be remembered for a rich and extraordinary life, marked by many iconic moments. The years she spent banished with Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to the small town of Brandfort," foundation spokesperson Luzuko Koti said. "That summer's day in February 1985 at Jabulani Stadium, when she read to the world Madiba's rejection of president [PW] Botha's offer of a conditional release from prison. Her own courageous work in underground structures and public service as South African ambassador to Denmark," Koti added in a statement.

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