Makgatho Mandela

Makgatho Mandela
Born 26 June 1950
South Africa
Died 6 January 2005(2005-01-06) (aged 54)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Spouse(s) Zondi
Children 4, including Mandla Mandela
Parent(s) Nelson Mandela
Evelyn Mase
Relatives Makaziwe Mandela (sister)
Zenani Mandela-Dlamini (half-sister)
Zindzi Mandela-Hlongwane (half-sister)

Makgatho Lewanika Mandela (26 June 1950 – 6 January 2005) was the son of Nelson Mandela and his first wife Evelyn Mase. He was an attorney, widowed with four sons. He is the father of Ndaba Mandela. He died of AIDS on 6 January 2005 in Johannesburg.[1]

His second wife Zondi died on 13 July 2003 at age 46. At first, her cause of death was given as pneumonia; after Makgatho's death, their son Mandla later announced that her pneumonia had been a complication of AIDS.[2]

When Nelson Mandela announced the cause of his son's death, he said: "Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like tuberculosis, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary."[3]

Makgatho Mandela is sometimes wrongly referred to as the older son of Nelson Mandela, but his brother Madiba Thembekile Mandela (Thembi) was born in 1945. Thembi was killed in a car crash in 1969.[4][5]

References

  1. Timberg, Craig (7 January 2005). "Mandela Says AIDS Led to Death of Son". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  2. Beresford, David (16 January 2006). "Mandela family united by grief and fight against Aids". The Observer. Retrieved 23 April 2007.
  3. Wines, Michael (6 January 2005). "Breaking Taboo, Mandela Reveals Son Died of AIDS". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
  4. "Genealogy". Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Nelson Mandela Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  5. "Honouring Thembekile Mandela". Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Nelson Mandela Foundation. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
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