eighty one after a long illness while the news was announced by her personal assistant when mandela was the ex-wife of the late president and anti apartheid icon nelson mandela her legacy in south africa was mixed for decades she was long admired as a determined fighter against white minority rule in south africa but women to his reputation began to suffer and later years due to a number of controversy still she does remain one of south africa's most of fining figures and tributes have been pouring in for her this is what one member of the current government had to say she was really it was. solved in african names. is the sea deep our evolutionary pain. of this great i call of regimes drug. serfontein is a south african journalist author and documentary filmmaker she has reported extensively