WATCH | Iconic moment Zindzi reads dad Nelson Mandela's rejection letter to PW Botha in 1985

Video footage of a young Zindzi Mandela reading out her father, Nelson Mandela's, rejection letter to then president PW Botha has gone viral since confirmation of her death on Monday.

Zindzi was speaking at a mass gathering in Soweto, Johannesburg in 1985.

The letter was Nelson Mandela's response to Botha's offer of freedom on condition that he “unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon”.

“I am surprised at the conditions that the government wants to impose on me. I am not a violent man. My colleagues and I wrote in 1952 to Malan asking for a round table conference to find a solution to the problems of our country, but that was ignored. I am in prison as a representative of the people and of your organisation, the African National Congress, which was banned. What freedom am I being offered whilst the organisation of the people is banned?” reads part of the letter.

The daughter of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela died at a Johannesburg hospital on Monday morning.

Her death has been described as “sudden”.

On social media, she has been hailed for her bravery and for tackling “real issues.”


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