Former South African President Nelson Mandela announced his eldest son had died of Aids-related complications yesterday, saying that the only way to fight the disease's stigma was to speak openly about it.

Makgatho Mandela, 54, an attorney, was admitted to Linksfield Park Clinic in Johannesburg last month.

"Let us give publicity to the virus and not hide it because the only way of making it appear to be a normal illness just like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died of HIV," Mandela said at a news conference.

His position contrasts with that of other prominent South Africans, including President Thabo Mbeki, who has denied knowing anyone who has died of HIV/Aids. Mandela declined to comment on Mbeki's views.

"I hope that as time goes on, we realise that it is important for us to talk openly about people who die of Aids," Mandela said.

Mandela was surrounded by sombre relatives, including Makgatho's two sisters and two of his sons.

Makgatho Mandela was one of four children two daughters and two sons from Mandela's first marriage to Evelyn Mase, who died in May at age 82. A daughter died in 1948 before she was a year old, and another son was killed in a car crash in 1969 while Mandela was in prison. Mandela was jailed for 27 years under apartheid.

Mandela has had two other wives since divorcing Mase in 1955, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Graca Machel. He had two daughters with Madikizela-Mandela. Last year, Makgatho Mandela's wife, Zondi, died of pneumonia. He is survived by three sons.

Mandela, who looks increasingly frail in his public appearances, has suffered a string of personal losses over the last several years. He buried Makgatho's mother, his first wife Evelyn Mase, in 2004 and attended the funeral for Makgatho's wife Zondi following her death.

In 2003, Mandela led South Africa in mourning for his African National Congress comrade Walter Sisulu, whose death at age 90 left Mandela almost alone among the elder generation of leaders who helped end apartheid and bring multi-racial democracy to South Africa in 1994.