South African icon, anti-apartheid campaigner and former wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has died aged 81.
She died in a Johannesburg hospital after a long illness. Her family is expected to issue a statement later in the day.
Winnie, known as “mother of the nation” had been admitted to hospital in January with a kidney infection.
Winnie met anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in 1957 and they were married a year later.
They had a short-lived marriage and two children together before he was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela was eventually released in 1990.
