Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of South Africa's first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela, has died of cancer at the age of 43.
She passed away on Monday
evening surrounded by friends and family, a spokesperson said.
In recent years, Ms. Mandela
has become well-known for detailing her cancer treatment. She was also open
about her history of drug addiction.
The Nelson Mandela
Foundation said her work was inspirational.
It said that she raised
"awareness about cancer prevention" as well as "breaking down
the stigma surrounding the disease".
Ms. Mandela also spoke
candidly about her struggles with depression and the fact that she had been
sexually abused as a child.
In addition, she campaigned
for better road safety after her 13-year-old daughter was killed in a car
accident in 2010. She later lost a son who was born prematurely. She is
survived by four children.
Ms. Mandela, who was the
granddaughter of Nelson Mandela's second wife, Winnie, documented her story in
her autobiography When Hope Whispers.
Diagnosed with breast
cancer at the age of 32, she received treatment and was in remission but the
illness later returned.
Last year, she confirmed
that she had cancer in her liver and lungs, which then spread to other organs. She
was being treated as an outpatient but was admitted to the hospital just over a
week ago.
"What do I tell my
children? How do I tell them that this time around I may not get to live my
life as a survivor? How do I tell them everything will be OK when it's not? I'm
dying... I don't want to die," she posted on Instagram early last month.
In an interview with Kaya FM in
April, Ms Mandela said: "I'm learning to be okay with my
eventuality."
Her frank disclosures
gained her a following on social media, which is where people on Tuesday have
been leaving tributes.
"Utterly tragic loss
of a human being in her grandfather's footsteps. A decent, honest human being
in a dishonest, hypocritical world," one person on X, formerly Twitter, said.
"You were one of the
bravest people I know and you inspired many people on your life's journey of
hope," another person wrote on Instagram below the Mandela family's
announcement.
Ms Mandela was only 10 when
her grandfather was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years in detention.
She had only ever known him
as an incarcerated man, so when he was released she was just excited he was coming
home.
Mr Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95
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