South Africa prays for seriously ill Mandela
Source: AFP |
June 10, 2013, Monday
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SOUTH Africans prayed for Nelson Mandela as he spent a second day in a hospital yesterday suffering a lung infection that has sparked worldwide concerns for the ailing peace icon.
Mandela's latest health scare was splashed across the front pages of local newspapers but government officials have released no updates since announcing he was hospitalized in Pretoria early Saturday in a "serious but stable" condition.
The congregation at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a flashpoint during the anti-apartheid struggle, prayed for the 94-year-year-old national hero.
"I am coming to church today with Madiba in my thoughts. I want him to get well," churchgoer Nokuthula Tshibasa, 38, said, using Mandela's clan name.
It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.
South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president who is revered as the father of the multi-race democracy.
"I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?" said churchgoer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father. "He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him."
The Sunday Times newspaper ran a picture of the elder statesman smiling and waving on its front page under the headline: "It's time to let him go."
"We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him," long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, said.
The former apartheid era prisoner who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964 said it was clear he was not well and it was possible he "might not be well again. ... Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too."
Mandela's third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to London.
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who also served time with Mandela in Robben Island, said on Saturday he was in a "serious" condition, in an unusually sombre description of his state of health.
Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness after embracing his former jailers following his release from 27 years in prison.
Mandela's latest health scare was splashed across the front pages of local newspapers but government officials have released no updates since announcing he was hospitalized in Pretoria early Saturday in a "serious but stable" condition.
The congregation at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a flashpoint during the anti-apartheid struggle, prayed for the 94-year-year-old national hero.
"I am coming to church today with Madiba in my thoughts. I want him to get well," churchgoer Nokuthula Tshibasa, 38, said, using Mandela's clan name.
It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.
South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president who is revered as the father of the multi-race democracy.
"I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?" said churchgoer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father. "He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him."
The Sunday Times newspaper ran a picture of the elder statesman smiling and waving on its front page under the headline: "It's time to let him go."
"We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him," long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, said.
The former apartheid era prisoner who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964 said it was clear he was not well and it was possible he "might not be well again. ... Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too."
Mandela's third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to London.
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, who also served time with Mandela in Robben Island, said on Saturday he was in a "serious" condition, in an unusually sombre description of his state of health.
Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness after embracing his former jailers following his release from 27 years in prison.
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