When Zindzi Mandela visited Busoga

Zindzi Mandela, the youngest daughter of South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela died on Monday aged 59.

Daughter to Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, she was South Africa's ambassador to Denmark at the time of her death, which coincided with the anniversary of a car crash that claimed the life of his (Mandela) first son, 51 years earlier.

However, about a year ago, the late Zindzi was brought for a visit to Jinja by Ambassador Zaake Kibedi (Uganda’s Ambassador to Denmark), in the company of second deputy `Prime Minister and minister without portfolio, Hajji Kirunda Kivejinja; and had a stopover at Source of the Nile Hotel.

A source says that at the hotel, she enjoyed Ugandan pineapples, sweet bananas, matooke, tilapia fish and groundnut sauce, before she left to visit other areas of tourist attraction and other parts of the country.

“We discussed collaborative arrangements in tourism between Uganda and South Africa, the role of tourism in fighting poverty in our communities; generally many transformative ideas to benefit Africa were discussed,” Mr Daudi Migereko, the Chairman Uganda Tourism Board and former Lands Minister, said on Tuesday.

Briefly about Zindzi

Zindzi had been designated to become South Africa's envoy to Liberia after her stint in Copenhagen, which started in 2015.

The Mandela family released a brief statement announcing her death, which said she was survived by her children and grandchildren.

Zindzi was born and raised in Soweto and grew up while her father was incarcerated by the apartheid regime for 27 years.

Like her parents, she was involved in the liberation struggle and was an active member of the African National Congress (ANC) youth movement.

One of her most prominent moments was in 1985 when she read out -- in front of a huge crowd of ANC supporters at a Soweto stadium -- a letter in which her father rejected an offer of release from the then apartheid president, P.W. Botha.

At the time Botha had offered to free Mandela from prison on condition he renounced the anti-apartheid violence and protests.

Two surviving children

Only two of Mandela's five adult children survive.

Zenani, 61, is South Africa's ambassador to Argentina while Makaziwe, 66, is a businesswoman in South Africa.

His eldest child Thembekile was killed at the age of 24 in a car crash on this day -- July 13, 1969 -- while his father was imprisoned on Robben Island.

His other son, Makgatho Mandela, died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005 at the age of 54.

Both Thembekile and Makgatho were born from Mandela's first marriage with Evelyn Mase, as was Makaziwe.

Mandela spoke openly about the cause of Makgatho's death, becoming one of the first public figures to break the taboo around the AIDS epidemic that had engulfed South Africa.

A daughter from Mandela's first marriage died in 1948, nine months after birth.

Additional reporting from AFP

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