Mandela rallies as daughter attacks press ‘vultures’

South Africa is a nation on tenterhooks. The news earlier today that President Jacob Zuma had cancelled a visit to Mozambique was followed by a flurry of activity as members of the Mandela family were reportedly summoned to the former South African leader’s hospital bedside in Pretoria.

Word was circulated among foreign media that there would be an announcement on state television at 1pm South African time. Instead, Nelson Mandela’s daughter announced that her father was alive – a reason for many South Africans to celebrate.

Outside the hospital, TV channels from throughout the world talked live to their programmes. Meanwhile, President Zuma came to the hospital – and left.

Giving hope

Finally, South African state TV carried an interview with one of Nelson Mandela’s daughters, Makaziwe. She admitted that her father did not look good but said that his relatives still had hope because he appeared to be able to ackowledge their presence.

“For us, as his progeny, as long as Tata (Mandela) is still responding when we talk to him, when we touch him, I think that gives us hope.”

There’s sort of a racist element with many of the foreign media…You have no idea what’s happening at the hospital. Makaziwe Mandela

She then went on to criticise the foreign media frenzy outside the hospital gates.

“There’s sort of a racist element with many of the foreign media,” she said, “where they just cross boundaries. You have no idea what’s happening at the hospital.”

She continued: “It’s like truly vultures waiting when a lion has devoured a buffalo, waiting there for the last carcase. That’s the image that we have as a family.

And she noted that the British media had never behaved like this with Margaret Thatcher.

Difficult situation

Earlier in the day, one of Mandela’s granddaughters, Ndileka Mandela, confirmed that her grandfather’s condition as stable, indicating it had not changed since the government said on Sunday that Mandela’s health had deteriorated to a critical state.

She said that it has been a difficult situation for the family, especially because they are coping with Mandela’s illness in the public eye.

President Zuma’s office also said that it is disturbed by what it calls rumours about Mandela’s health, as unconfirmed reports and speculation have been rife across the internet.

#madiba #mandela ANC Youth Wing eulogising their “liberator” outside Pretoria Mediclinic pic.twitter.com/IfmyV47aZE

— Jonathan Miller (@millerC4) June 27, 2013

‘Gone down

President Zuma had been due to attend a summit in Mozambique, but cancelled his trip after visiting Mandela in hospital late on Wednesday.

I won’t lie, it doesn’t look good. But if we speak to him he responds and tries to open his eyes. Makaziwe Mandela

At the time, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told state broadcaster SABC that the condition of “Madiba”, the clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known, had “gone down” in the last 48 hours.

Mandela’s fourth hospitalisation in six months has forced a growing realisation among South Africans that the man regarded as the father of their post-apartheid nation will not be among them for ever.

Obama due

US President Barack Obama is due to visit South Africa at the weekend as part of a three-nation Africa tour he has already started in Senegal. The presidential spokesperson said it was too early to say whether Obama’s schedule in Johannesburg and Cape Town on Saturday and Sunday might be affected by Mandela’s worsening condition.

Well-wishers’ messages, bouquets and stuffed animals have piled up outside Mandela’s Johannesburg home and the wall of the hospital compound where he is being treated in the capital.

Mandela is admired around the world as a symbol of resistance to injustice for the way he opposed his country’s apartheid system, spending 27 years in jail, more than half of them on notorious Robben Island.

He is also respected for the way he preached reconciliation after the 1994 transition to multi-racial democracy.

#mandela #madiba there’s a hushed expectancy outside Pretoria’s Mediclinic. Family gathering inside. pic.twitter.com/nWpOVGuSiw

— Jonathan Miller (@millerC4) June 27, 2013