13 July 1969
Thembekile “Thembi” Mandela, the eldest son of Nelson Mandela and Evelyn Mase was killed in a car accident while his father was serving life sentence on Robben Island. Mandela, who always played a brother figure for many of his inmates was filled with anguish at not being allowed by the authorities to attend Thembi’s funeral or to have access to details about the fatal crash. Thembi died when three cars collided on the fog-bound Touws River road, leaving four people dead and another four injured.
References

Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, (2012), ‘Honouring Thembekile Mandela’, 22 February, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org(Accessed: 31 May 2012)|Times Live, (2012), ‘Mandela gets closure on 1969 death of eldest son’, 22 February, [online], available at www.timeslive.co.za(Accessed: 31 May 2012)