Tears shed for Zindzi Mandela
TRIBUTES: DAUGHTER OF WINNIE AND NELSON ALSO REMEMBERED AS STRUGGLE ICON
Underground MK operative, member of Release Mandela campaign .
Zindzi Mandela, the youngest daughter of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Nelson Mandela, died in a Johannesburg hospital during the early hours of yesterday morning at the age of 59.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was deeply saddened by the passing of South Africa’s former ambassador to Denmark, Her Excellency Ms Zindziswa “Zindzi” Nobutho Mandela.
She was posted to Denmark in 2015 and had been designated to become South Africa’s head of mission in Monrovia, Liberia.
Zindzi was raised in Soweto and educated in SA and Swaziland. She was involved in the liberation struggle for many years and embraced roles in the arts, philanthropy and business.
In her political career she served as deputy president of the Soweto Youth Congress, was a member of the Release Mandela Campaign and an underground operative of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
“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,” said Ramaphosa.
“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.
“After our liberation she became an icon of the task we began of transforming our society and stepping into spaces and opportunities that had been denied to generations of South Africans.
“Her spirit joins Tata Madiba and Mama Winnie in a reunion of leaders to whom we owe our freedom.”
Johannesburg mayor Geoffrey Makhubo said the then 25-yearold Mandela “made history” in Soweto in 1985 when she read her father’s famous refusal to accept PW Botha’s offer of a conditional release.
“Just like her parents, Zindzi also dedicated her life to the cause of the people,” he added.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said: “Sis’ Zindzi was outspoken – she expressed her views without fear or favour. That is the character of cadres we want in the ANC.” – news@citizen.co.za/additional reporting News24 Wire