By Babalo Ndenze and Peta Thornycroft
Former prime minister of white-minority-ruled Rhodesia, Ian Smith, died on Tuesday night at the St James Retirement Hotel after several weeks of ill health.
His eldest son Robert, who was with him at his death bed, said he had died of natural causes.
"I'm rather stressed right now, and I can't really talk any further," he said.
The family would issue a statement on Wednesday, when it would also announce details of the funeral and memorial.
Smith's widowed daughter Jean Tholet was also with him when he died.
She and her brother had been caring for him at the retirement home overlooking the sea at St James on Cape Town's platinum mile.
He left Zimbabwe four years ago after falling down stairs in his home in Harare and was still, at that time, actively involved with his ranch in central Zimbabwe.
Jean and Robert were children of his late wife Janet. Smith adopted Robert and Jean after his marriage to Janet.
She and Smith had a son, Alec, who died suddenly last year after a trip to Harare.
A defiant Smith had once declared blacks would not rule Rhodesia in 1 000 years, but after a war of liberation and talks brokered by Britain, was forced to hand over power in 1980.
Besides Jean and Robert, Smith is survived by six grandchildren.