Former president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday commended South African Football Association Vice-President Irvin Khoza for being honest about the fact that his daughter Zodwa had died of an HIV-related illness.
Mandela said he was convinced the family’s disclosing the cause of their daughter’s death would give others the courage to do the same, his spokesperson Zelda la Grange said.
Zodwa (30) was brand manager for the Orlando Pirates football club. She died at a private hospital in Pretoria on Monday.
”We wish you strength during these trying times and we commend you and your family for being honest and open about Zodwa’s HIV status,” Mandela told Khoza in a telephone conversation.
He said the silence around the disease was as big a killer as HIV/Aids itself.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) said Zodwa Khoza contributed greatly towards making Pirates’ image a spectator-friendly one.
Sascoc president Moss Mashishi said Pirates and South African football had lost one of its hardest working ambassadors. Finding someone of Khoza’s calibre was a rarity in any sport.
”Miss Khoza’s proactive attitude towards the planning and implementation of … top football events will be sadly missed. On behalf of Sascoc, I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the Khoza family, and close friends, as well as all involved with Orlando Pirates.
”They have lost one of their beloved sisters,” said Mashishi. – Sapa