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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.
JOHANNESBURG -- Nelson Mandela's life is an open book. Volumes chronicle every aspect of his 94 years. However, all that changed earlier this month when he was hospitalized.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and his spokesman have released several brief statements saying essentially that Mandela "continues recovering,” and that there’s “no crisis.” The latest, issued Monday, said Mandela would spend Christmas Day in hospital, with Zuma asking "all freedom-loving people around the world to pray for him."
All this has done little to quell the widespread fear in South Africa and around the world that the end of the life of “Madiba” -- as the beloved elder statesman is affectionately known here – is near.
After more than two weeks of rumor, speculation and cryptic comments, very little is known for certain about how Mandela is really doing as he recovers from surgery to remove gallstones and treatment for a respiratory infection.
Country 'a bit nervous'
It’s been his longest hospital stay since everything changed in South Africa, when Mandela was released from prison and apartheid ended some two decades ago.
“For a man of his age, Mandela is not doing badly,” Tokyo Sexwale, the government’s minister of human affairs, said in an interview in the garden outside his home.
Sexwale, who has known and worked closely with Mandela since the 1970s, is also a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, or “the center of his memory,” as Sexwale calls it.
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He said the Foundation receives anywhere from 6,000 to 7,000 messages of prayer, support and concern every week for Mandela.
“I hope, Godspeed, he’ll still be with us for quite some time. The country feels a bit nervous, it’s like a family losing the father,” he added.
He did not reveal specific details about Mandela’s condition or prognosis.
“You have to speak quite loudly to him,” observed Peter Paul Ngwenya, who told NBC News that he was last with Mandela a few weeks ago.
“He is very forgetful,” he said of the man he clearly idolizes. “He does remember faces and he does remember names.”
Nelson Mandela undergoes surgery to remove gallstones
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated for a recurring lung infection. South African authorities gave few details about his illness, but have now said the 94-year-old is responding well to treatment. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
Sexwale and Ngwenya are former freedom fighters and political prisoners, a generation younger than Mandela.
Sexwale was sentenced in 1977 to 18 years on Robben Island for treason and terrorism. He served 13 years, much of it while Mandela was there.
Trying to avoid 'death-watch circus'
Ngwenya was convicted of similar offenses in 1985 and sentenced to 15 years. History was kind to him and as apartheid crumbled he was released early in 1990.
The government has been notably brief about their hero's health.
Its line is that it must protect Mandela's privacy, dignity, and give his doctors the space they need to care for him.
“They really don’t want to turn this into a ghoulish, death-watch circus,” said Brooks Spector, a retired diplomat, academic, and NBC News consultant in South Africa.
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What's more, this is not a culture like in America, where doctors routinely hold daily press briefings about high profile cases.
“The government has never felt comfortable with the prying eyes of the media,” Spector said.
First the government said it was a visit for "routine tests."
Later, it was revealed he had a "respiratory infection."
Finally came the announcement about the surgery, all with little explanation, and no opportunity for the media to ask questions.
Since Mandela entered an unidentified hospital on Dec. 8 there has been something of a shell game. Is he at this or that hospital?
Is he heading home, or there already? Maybe he's going to Qunu, his homeland in a remote part of the Eastern Cape. Mandela has said he wants to spend his final days there.
South Africa releases newly-minted bank notes showing the smiling face of former president Nelson Mandela. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
All about peace, reconciliation
For days the government would only say Mandela was in a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, without saying which one.
Professor Adam Habib, of the University of Johannesburg, said the problem was that “the government tends not to be transparent and that breeds conspiracy theories.”
Habid said his sense of things was that “Mandela is not on his deathbed.”
He said he did not think the government was lying about Mandela’s condition, but the entire situation should be handled in a “more mature way.”
It doesn’t help that there’s growing and widespread criticism of the government and Zuma, who faces hundreds of corruption allegations.
And nearly 20 years after Mandela was elected president, it’s difficult to find anyone who truly believes the nation and its leaders have lived up to his dream and his ideals.
Meanwhile, South Africa hopes and prays for the best. When you ask someone here about Mandela, there’s often a pause before an answer. It’s a brief difficult moment when many perhaps allow themselves to contemplate the inevitable.
Reflecting on the last time he saw the quite frail Mandela a few weeks ago, Ngwenya said he was “sad to see him like that, but I was happy that he’s still around, because it’s like to have a parent who brought you up, and now you’re looking after them.”
“It is good that your grandchildren and your children can still see this icon,” he added.
Sexwale noted, “We draw strength not from the fact that Mandela is in the declining part of his years, but from the youth of his ideas. That’s what keeps this country alive.”
Those ideas, he said, were all about peace and reconciliation. “I hope the memory of his ideas will be that which will drive not only our people here in South Africa, but all those who are inspired all over the world.”
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Leave a Comment:
Nelson Mandela's health is really not the concern of the entire fecking world! Give the man some peace and privacy for God's sake! He's ill and in the hospital. He doesn't need everyone to know what his condition is if he wants to rest!!!!
Tokyo Sexwale? You gotta be @!$%#tin me!
Why?
He's 94 years old now..what they expect him to live forever..the average person doesn't live to 94 alone.
Guess they take care of you better in a African prison then being free there....to live to 94 still.
Even old terrorist get old and die...His last days will be in that hospital...
he's much more than that gordo
Is he still stupping Hillary?
What's wrong with you?
It's always the most crass, immature statements from conservatives. It's like they are perpetual adolescent boys. So pathetic.
Wow. An allegation unsupported by any evidence other than presumption, Argumentum ad Hominem, and condescension based on supposed intellectual superiority in three short sentences. I'm impressed.
Right, the leader of anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, South Africa's first black president and a world-peace advocate's health doesn't affect the world...well, maybe not those that remain clueless in their mother's basements.
The guy is 94. We've been blessed to have him as long as we have.
His ex-wife might disagree.
my understanding is that Winnie Mandela remained great friends with him. She is often in the last decade in pictures with him and his new(er) wife IIRC
The trouble is South African President wanting to report on Nelson Mandela's condition and Nelson Mandela Foundation and Nelson Mandela's family issuing different reports. Fact is Nelson Mandela is sick- he had lung infection and had his gallstones removed- he will stay in the hospital -not in Pretoria- but in an undisclosed hospital (news people have ferreted out-will not publish). Archbishop Tutu and others (also Pres,Zuma and Mandela's grandson Mandla are asking for prayers for Nelson Mandela's recovery. Read http://www/mg.co.za/article/2012-12-24-hospital-christmas-for-mandela-as-rumors-fly.
you have secret connections mimi? ;)
Someone should call the hospital and pose as the queen.
Give the man some respect. Unlike obama he tried to unite his country not divide and destroy it. His efforts at reconciliation should be a lesson for all.
Just shut up! You horrible people can't read ANY story without voicing your disgusting hatred. We get it! You didn't vote for him and you are a childish loser! You don't have to keep proving it!
I'm sure his ex-wife shares your sentiments.
Looks like John Smith is yet another democrat wanting to ban our constitutional right of freedom of speech. You really should try to follow the vine's C-O-H if you want to continue posting your garbage on their site.
Have they not heard of HIPPA. He has rights to privacy also.
HIPPA. Is that what they call HIPAA in South Africa?
excellent bill!
Get well soon, President Mandela:)
or if it is to happen a peaceful death (he's 94 and has been very frail for many months)
Many blessings for Mr. Mandela and his family. I have nothing but great respect for this man.
Merry Christmas To ALL!!
Mandella was a member of South African Communist Party SACP, a leader of RNC. He is evil.
are you joking about him being evil?
read his writings. He forgave his captors ...in the second half of his life he preached peace and nonviolence and brought his country...all races...togeather.
Communist is not evil...and many people were communist decades ago. Maybe look up the definition some time. All it is is a disproven somewhat idealistic ideal of government that never worked.
I hope he will be ok. I also hope Margaret Thatcher good health. 2 good, historic figures.
one perhaps a bit more "good" than another, though I wish neither ill
Sorry. "hope for".
Mandela and his followers were responsible for the torture and death of numbers of people that disagreed with him. Including driving tires over a persons shoulders and setting them on fire. Let him pass on ,hopefully he makes his peace with God 1st.
Nelson Mandela is on a par with Mohandas K. Gandhi in my book of favorite persons. He has been an inspiration to all who love and seek freedom.
God Bless you Nelson Mandela, praying for your healing, and trusting God will bring you thru.
Merrry Christmas, may you have many more!
God Bless you Nelson Mandela, praying for you recovery, that God will bring you thru.
Merry Christmas, may you have many more.
It would be somewhat Ironic, and, maybe proof, that there is a higher Substance that Rules our little world...if, Bush Sr and Mandela....die on the same day........maybe a message?
we don't care.
Why is his health a secret? He is 94 years old and he has already lived a long healthy life...and a productive one with international support, fame and admiration. If he departs for the heavens...it would not be grief for him, his family or his great country of South Africa...but celebration for a man with an extraordinary life and an extraordinary contribution. He will be remembered for a long time.
I wish him well...and many more years of long healthy life if possible.
Merry Christmas
Good riddance to this marxist terrorist POS. He killed people. He destroyed a good country. South Africa is no better than any other 3rd world African country today run by ignorant natives. The world is a better place when he's gone.
Uhuru, night of the long knives, coming to a neigbourhood near you..
No need to be concerned. He is 94 with health problems and will depart soon. Give him room.
The guy is going on 95 years old what are they going to say when he dies , it was UN-expected , for Christ's sake he should have died in prison years ago...........