Nelson Mandela’s first democratically elected president of South Africa, Zoleka Mandela, passed away at the age of 43 from cancer.
According to a representative, she passed away on Monday night while being surrounded by friends and relatives.
Ms. Mandela has gained notoriety in recent years for disclosing the specifics of her cancer treatment. She was also honest about her past drug use.
Her work was deemed inspirational by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
She promoted “awareness about cancer prevention” and “broke down the stigma surrounding the disease,” according to the report.
Ms. Mandela was open and honest in her discussion of her experiences with sexual abuse as a kid, as well as her battles with depression.
Additionally, after her 13-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident in 2010, she advocated for increased road safety. Later, she lost a son who was born too soon. She leaves behind four kids.
When Hope Whispers, Ms. Mandela’s memoirs, which she wrote as the granddaughter of Nelson Mandela’s second wife Winnie, detailed her experience.
She was 32 years old when she was given a breast cancer diagnosis; she had therapy and entered remission, but the disease eventually came back.
She acknowledged having cancer in her liver and lungs last year, which later spread to other organs. She was receiving outpatient care but was only recently admitted to the hospital.
“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.”
When her grandfather was freed from prison in 1990 after serving 27 years in custody, she was just 10 years old.
When he was released, Ms. Mandela was just happy to see him again because she had only ever known him as an inmate.
In 2013, Mr. Mandela passed away at the age of 95.
