The family said in a statement that she passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year.
"Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela was one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid," the statement said. "She fought valiantly against the apartheid state and sacrificed her life for the freedom of the country."
Her death came as a shock. "None of us had predicted this," a family spokesman told CNN.
