Johannesburg: Former South African President Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening match of the soccer World Cup on Friday after his great grand-daughter was killed, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said.
The Foundation said in a statement that Mandela, 91, who is widely credited with helping South Africa win the World Cup bid in 2004, learned of the death of Zenani Mandela on Friday morning.
"It would therefore be inappropriate for him to personally attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening celebrations," the Foundation statement said.
South Africans have been hoping he might be able to attend the opening match despite his frail health.
Zenani Mandela, killed two days after her 13th birthday, was one of Mandela's nine great-grandchildren. She was killed when the car she was travelling in after the official World Cup Kick-Off concert was involved in an accident.
Police said earlier reports that Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in the car, were incorrect. The driver of the car had been arrested and police were investigating a case of culpable homicide.
The Mandela Foundation said the family had asked for privacy. Zenani was a grand-daughter of Zindzi Mandela, Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's daughter.
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