The youngest daughter of struggle icons Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Zindzi, has been laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Fourways Memorial Park in Johannesburg.
Few moments after burying the former Ambassador to Denmark, EFF leader Julius Malema and ANC senior leader Nomvula Mokonyane expressed their pain at Zindzi’s contracting COVID-19.
On Wednesday, Zindzi’s son, Zondwa, revealed to the SABC that her mother, 59, had tested positive for coronavirus.
A former deputy president of the Soweto Youth Congress and a member of the Release Mandela Campaign, Zindzi was buried next to her mother and grandchildren at the Mandela Memorial Site in a private service.
Malema, who is close to Madikizela Mandela’s family, said Zindzi had a lot to offer to the people of South Africa.
“When people like Mama Zindzi succumb to this invisible enemy, we are shattered. We are hopeless. We are still in disbelief,” Malema told the SABC.
Malema said he had braved the possibility of being infected by the virus to make sure that he buried Zindzi, whom he was also close to.
Mokonyane described Zindzi as a doyen.
“Sadly, the invisible has been able to take her away from us,” she told the SABC briefly after the funeral.
Earlier, Zindzi’s coffin, draped in a pink blanket, was carried to the chapel under strict COVID-19 regulations.
Zondwa, Zindzi’s sister Zenani, ANC senior leader Jeff Radebe were among the speakers during the short service, where media was not allowed.
Radebe told the SABC after the burial that Zindzi was a heroine of the struggle against apartheid, who laid down her own life when she joined the ANC armed wing, uMkhonto We Sizwe (MK).
“She was a leader in her own right,” he said.
