Struggle stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has passed away.

The apartheid icon has been ill for a number of years and was most recently admitted to Milpark Hospital due to a kidney infection.

The last time the stalwart was in a hospital was in October 2017 for a knee surgery, which she recovered from.

During the 27-year imprisonment of her ex-husband, Nelson Mandela, for his fight against apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela campaigned for his release and the rights of black South Africans, undergoing arrest and banishment.

White minority rule ended in 1994.

The former South African first lady was born in the village of Mbongweni, Bizana, in the Transkei.