Zindzi Mandela, South Africa's ambassador to Denmark tested positive for COVID-19 on the day she died, her son Zondwa Mandela told South African public broadcaster SABC.
The daughter of anti-apartheid leaders Nelson and Winnie Mandela at the age of 59, died on Monday morning at a hospital in Johannesburg hospital.
"This doesn't mean that she died from COVID complications, but simply that she tested positive for it," Zondwa Mandela said during the Wednesday broadcast.
Zondwa, 35, said that his mom had other tests done prior to her death, as well, and that "those tests will give us further information as to what could have actually led to her untimely death."
According to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, Zindzi's son says the family is waiting for "a complete and full autopsy" to come back.
Because there was a positive test, he says the family is obligated to operate under coronavirus regulations but still hopes to give Zindzi a "very respectable sendoff."
According to Zondwa, Zindzi will be laid to rest on Friday morning day before “Mandela Day,” an international day of service which coincides with Nelson Mandela’s birthday.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was "deeply saddened" by Zindzi's death, according to a statement he tweeted on Monday.
"I offer my deep condolences to the Mandela family as we mourn the passing of a fearless political activist who was a leader in her own right," Ramaphosa said.
"Our sadness is compounded by this loss being visited upon us just days before the world marks the birthday of the great Nelson Mandela."
Zindzi rose to fame in February 1985 when she publicly read her father’s rejection of then-president P.W. Botha's offer for conditional release from prison.
Her four children and two siblings, her sisters Zenani Dlamini and Pumla Makaziwe Mandela, survive the late Zindzi Mandela.
So far South Africa has recorded 324,221 confirmed cases, 165,591 recoveries and 4669 deaths.
It has had the highest number of COVID-19 infections on the continent and is the eighth most affected country globally in terms of caseloads.
South Africa had imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns in April and May, including closing virtually all mines, factories and businesses, and a ban on sales of liquor and cigarettes.
And within a month during the uplift, the country's number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations increased vigorously.
South Africa has conducted 2.2 million tests for the virus since it was first detected in the country nearly four months ago with 45,389 conducted in the past 24 hours.
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