This Day in History: January 6, 2005
Additional Date: January 6, 2005
Former president Nelson Mandela's only surviving son, Makgatho Mandela, died of HIV/AIDS in the Linksfield hospital in Johannesburg. His father put up a brave face and announced that his son had HIV/Aids. He stressed that being open about HIV/Aids was the only way to stop people "regarding it as an extraordinary thing for which people go to hell and not to heaven". Makgatho's second wife, Zondi Mandela, had died of pneumonia at the age of 46 on 13 July 2003. Makgatho was survived by four sons, Mandla, from his first marriage, and Ndaba, 21, Mbuso, 13, and Andile, 11, from his marriage to Zondi.