My son died of Aids: Mandela
12 January 2005
Nelson Mandela has talen the lead once more. By disclosing that his son Makgatho died due to Aids-related factors, he has shown the way to South Africans struggling to break the stigma that still surrounds the disease in the country.
Makgatho Lewanika Mandela died on 6 January 2005, aged 54. He was Nelson Mandela's last surviving son; younger son Thembekile died in 1969 while Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island.
Mandela called for publicity to be given to HIV/Aids, saying that this was the only way for the disease to be recognised as a "normal illness, like TB, like cancer".
He made the statement at a press conference held on the afternoon of his son's death, surrounded by members of his family.
Mandela had spent the last months by his son's bedside after he had been admitted to Linksfield Park Clinic in November 2004. Speculation about the cause of Makgatho's illness was raised after his wife Zondi died of pnuemonia in 2003.
Makgatho Lewanika Mandela was a son from Mandela's first marriage, to Evelyn Mase. He was a lawyer in the healthcare industry. He leaves behind four sons, Mandla, Ndaba, Mbuso and Andile.
Mandela's announcement has been described as "courageous", as few prominent South Africans have publicly discussed the effect of HIV/Aids on their families. A notable exception was Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who announced in 2004 that his son had died from the disease.
According to the latest Department of Health figures, 5.6-million South Africans were estimated to be HIV-positive by the end of 2003.
The Treatment Action Campaign, an NGO that campaigns for greater access to HIV treatment in South Africa, expressed its condolences to the Mandela family.
In a statement, the organisation "saluted" the family's "decision to disclose the cause of death in the national interest of raising awareness ... and destigmatising Aids, during a time of great
personal pain and loss."
UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot called Mandela's acknowledgement "a demonstration of the practical leadership that [he] gives to the international efforts to fight stigma and discrimination".
The battle against HIV/Aids has been central to Mandela's mission in recent years. The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, started in 1995 to address the needs of young people facing homelessness, joblessness and poverty, now directs a large part of its resources where the country needs them most - to Aids orphans.
Mandela is also the driving force behind 46664, a worldwide music-led campaign to raise global awareness about HIV/Aids and funds to fight the pandemic in Africa.
Speaking at the 14th International Aids Conference in Paris in 2003, Mandela said that a "tragedy of unprecedented proportions" was unfolding in Africa.
"Aids today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods and the ravages
of such deadly diseases as malaria ... We must act now for the sake of the world ... Aids is no longer a disease, it is a human rights issue."
The Mandela's presented a united front at Tuesday's memorial service for Makgatho, held at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Mandela sat flanked by his wife Graca and grandson Mandla, with his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and their daughters, Zinzi and Zenani, two rows away.
Among the mourners present were Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Cabinet ministers Trevor Manuel, Charles Nqakula, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi and Jabu Moleketi.
Makgatho's body will be flown to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. His funeral will take place in the Mandela family graveyard in Qunu on Saturday.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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