JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Nelson Mandela struck a blow against the stigma attached to millions of people suffering from AIDS in Africa yesterday when he announced that the disease had killed his only surviving son.

The former South African president, frail, sorrowful, and his eyes red with grief, appeared in the garden of his Johannesburg home and announced that Makgatho Mandela had died of AIDS at the age of 54.

“The only way of making HIV-Aids appear to be a normal illness, just like TB or cancer, is always to come out and say ‘somebody has died because of AIDS,’ ” said Mr. Mandela. “Then people will stop regarding it as something reserved for people who are going to Hell and not to Heaven.”

Some 5.6 million South Africans are infected with HIV or AIDS – a greater number than in any other country. The epidemic claims about 600 lives every day. Yet the shame attached to it is so great that sufferers often refuse to seek treatment. HIV tests are resisted and families routinely deny the cause of death of relatives.

President Mbeki was accused of pandering to prejudice when he claimed in 2003 that he knew no one who had died of AIDS. Mr. Mandela’s announcement was an implicit rebuke to his successor.

“It gives a very bad reflection of members of a family if they do not come out bravely and say ‘a member of my family has died of Aids,’ ” said Mr. Mandela. “It is better to maintain your integrity and your dignity by saying ‘I am suffering from this disease.’ “

By contrast, Mr. Mbeki has questioned whether HIV causes AIDS. Until last year, his government refused to distribute anti-retroviral drugs that arrest development of the syndrome. With the exception of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Inkhata Freedom Party, no prominent South African has announced that his child has died of AIDS.