Mandela Left Isolated By Family Deaths

A spate of deaths is turning Nelson Mandela, the world's most admired statesman, into one of its loneliest. The death of his only surviving son, Makgatho, 54, to an Aids-related illness last week was the latest bereavement to devastate South Africa's former president.

Last year he retired from public life to spend more time with friends and relatives, but for some it has come too late, leaving the 86-year-old to rue the sacrifices of a lifetime in politics.

In rapid succession he has buried a daughter-in-law, Zondi, 46, his first wife, Evelyn Mase, 82, his closest comrade, Walter Sisulu, and a string of others. At each funeral Mandela's face was stone, the smile and twinkle extinguished, and last week was no different when he summoned journalists to his Johannesburg home to announce Makgatho's passing.

He was flanked by his third wife, Graca Machel, and several grandchildren, and condolences flooded in from around the world, but nothing could disguise the pain.

The 27 years Mandela spent in jail cost not just his liberty but his chance to be a true family man, and even after his release, negotiations to end apartheid, his term as president and hectic schedule after leaving office left little time for loved ones.

He has been frail and unable to stand for long periods recently, and there has been a sense of urgency about making up for what was lost. There was a reconciliation of sorts with his second wife, Winnie Madikizela, and more lunches with their daughters Zenani and Zinzi, as well as with Pumla Makaziwe, Mandela's only surviving child from his first marriage.

His first daughter, Makaziwe, died aged nine months in 1948 and his first son, Thembekile, 24, died in a car accident in 1969. He said the tragedy left a hole in his heart which was never filled.

Yet for South Africa the anti-apartheid icon is a source of joy. Ever more streets and squares are named after him, statues erected, concerts held. In public, Mandela plays his part, blending good cheer and humour.

The decision to host a press conference last week to reveal the cause of Makgatho's death was his own, and he challenged the stigma over HIV/Aids which cripples the fight against the pandemic.

'The only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/Aids, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary,' he said.

Aids activists praised Mandela as one of the few politicians - with Zambia's former president Kenneth Kaunda and South Africa's opposition leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi - brave enough to speak out. More than 5 million South Africans are infected with the virus, more than in any other country.