Makgatho Mandela

Makgatho Lewanika Mandela (June 26, 1950 – January 6, 2005) was the son of former South African President Nelson Mandela and his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase. He was an attorney, widowed with four sons. He died of AIDS on 6 January 2005 in Johannesburg.

His second wife, Zondi Mandela, 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.^[1]

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 TB, 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."^[2]

Makgatho Mandela is sometimes wrongly referred to as the older son of Nelson Mandela, but his brother Madiba Thembekile Mandela (Thembi) was born in 1944.^[3] Thembi was killed in a car crash in 1969.^[3]

Makaziwe Mandela is a sister of Makgatho Mandela.

References

1. ^ Beresford, David (16 January 2006). "Mandela family united by grief and fight against Aids". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1391527,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-23. 
2. ^ Wines, Michael (6 January 2005). "Breaking Taboo, Mandela Reveals Son Died of AIDS". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/international/africa/06cnd-mand.html. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Chronology". Nelson Mandela Foundation. http://www.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/memory/views/chronology/. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 

External links

• Guardian article on his death
• BBC article on his death

Persondata
Name	Mandela, Makgatho
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 26, 1950
Place of birth
Date of death	January 6, 2005
Place of death