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| Nelson Mandela |
•Icon on life support, says South African newspaper
Paul Ohia with agency report
Iconic former South African leader Nelson Mandela has been
put on life support as he battled for life in a South African hospital just as
an archbishop in the country prayed for "peaceful and perfect end"
for him.
As his health remains in critical condition, 19 days after
he was evacuated to the hospital, leaders from his tribal homeland have been
told to prepare for the end of the man who fought for the emancipation of
blacks during the apartheid era in South Africa.
A leading South African cleric, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba,
prayed for the ex-president’s "peaceful and perfect end," according
to a report by BBC.
He visited Mandela in the hospital and prayed with his wife,
Graca Machel.
Cape Town Archbishop Makgoba's prayer, delivered during a
visit to the private hospital late on Tuesday, seemed to echo the growing
feeling in South Africa that Mandela is reaching the end of his life.
“May we be filled with gratitude for all the good that he
has done for us and for our nation, and may [we] honour his legacy through our
lives...” reads the prayer, which was posted on Archbishop Makgoba's Facebook
page.
"Grant Madiba eternal healing and relief from pain and
suffering. Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end.”
Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who also visited her father, was
quoted by the BBC as saying that her father had “opened his eyes and smiled”.
Zindzi, the youngest of Mandela's three daughters, told a
United States broadcaster from ABC News in a phone conversation that she had
held her father's hand whilst talking to him about recent events, including the
news that US President Barack Obama was due to visit South Africa at the end of
the week.
A report in a South African newspaper said the 94-year-old
liberation hero was on life support but there was no official response to the
report in The Citizen, a Pretoria-based newspaper, which said Mandela was
breathing with the assistance of a life support ventilator and was undergoing
renal dialysis.
The information was confirmed by five sources, including two
that had recently visited him in his Pretoria hospital ward, the newspaper
said.
Also, the Mandela family neither denied nor confirmed that
he is on life support.
Following the Mandela family meeting, senior tribal leaders,
including Mandela's tribal heir and grandson, Mandla Mandela, are expected to
visit the hospital for further talks with family members.
Mandela remains in critical condition, according to the
South African Government and multiple sources have confirmed that he is no
longer able to breathe unassisted.
In the Eastern Cape, where Mandela will be buried, a member
of the tribal authority confirmed that the clan had been told that he is
extremely ill and although it is against Xhosa tradition to even discuss the
death of a living person, they should prepare for the worst.
There are a series of tribal rituals that will be observed
by the family and the nation throughout this period and during the funeral,
although Mandela, a Methodist, will be given a Christian burial.
Outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela has been treated
for the past 19 days, well-wishers continue to lay flowers and cards supporting
this national and world icon.
Police have increased security and blocked the road to
traffic outside the rear entrance to the hospital.
An officer said this was to allow the free passage of family
and VIPs who have been visiting the hospital throughout Mandela's stay.
For the first time, South African people appear to be
accepting that the end of the remarkable life of Mandela is approaching.
“He has done so much for this country, it is terribly sad
but we have to accept it however hard it may seem,” said a lady reading
messages pinned to the hospital wall.
The office of President Jacob Zuma said Mandela remains in
critical condition, but the president, asking the nation to pray, added that
South Africa had to accept that "Madiba is old".
Mandela, known by his clan name Madiba, is revered for
leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then
preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years. He left power
after five years as the country's first black president.
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