Complete Mandela's goals: Lawyers for Human Rights

South Africans could best remember former president Nelson Mandela by working to continue his life's work, Lawyers for Human Rights said on Friday.

"Mandela's illustrious legacy is what has kept civil society's eye so keenly focused on human rights in South Africa and across the continent and abroad," LHR said in a statement.

"While we can't say we've accomplished everything he set out to achieve, we can certainly say that we are on the right track despite the numerous obstacles we face."

Just before midnight on Thursday, President Jacob Zuma announced that South Africa's first democratically-elected president had died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

LHR said it considered the international peace icon as a role model and shared many of his aspirations of upholding the rule of law, championing the rights of those who did not have the voice to fight for themselves.