Zoleka Mandela, the granddaughter of South Africa’s first elected president, Nelson Mandela, has died of cancer at the age of 43.
She was born on April 9, 1980. Her death was confirmed by her family spokesperson on her instagram page after being admitted to the hospital a week earlier with metastasis liver cancer.
The statement read, “On Monday, September 18, Zoleka Mandela was admitted into hospital for ongoing treatment for metastatic cancer to the hip, liver. lung. pelvis, brain and spinal cord. Recent scans revealed significant disease progression including fibrosis in the lungs as well as several emboli.
“Zoleka passed away on the evening of Monday, September 25th surrounded by friends and family Our sincerest gratitude tO the medical team that took care of her.”
She has also shared her fight with the disease several times on her instagram page and also talked about her history of drug addiction.
She was also Diagnosed with breast cancer at 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 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 her Instagram page in August 2022.
It was reported that in 2010, her 13-year-old daughter died in a car crash near South Africa capital Johannesburg.
