Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening of the World Cup, after his great granddaughter died in a car crash on her way home from the tournament's opening concert, a spokesman said.

Mandela's 13-year-old great granddaughter was killed early on Friday when her car overturned on a Johannesburg highway after South Africa's World Cup concert, his office said earlier.

The driver of the vehicle has been arrested as police investigate charges of culpable homicide, police spokeswoman Colonel Noxolo Kweza said.

"Zenani Mandela, 13, was travelling in a car returning from the World Cup kick-off concert at Orlando Stadium when the accident occurred. There was only one car involved and no-one else was injured," The Mandela Foundation said in a statement.

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