POLAND’S ambassador to South Africa, Zofia Kuratowska, has died of cancer, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. Kuratowska, who had been posted in South Africa for 18 months, died in the Pretoria Heart Hospital on Tuesday, ministry spokesman Marco Boni said. Kuratowska had previously been a deputy speaker of the Polish parliament and was in her late seventies, he added. South African Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo praised Kuratowska for her efforts to strengthen relations between South Africa and Poland. “We will remember her for her commitment and dedication in striving to expand and consolidate bilateral relations between Poland and South Africa,” he said in a statement.