president, Nelson Mandela, has become critical, President Jacob Zuma announced
Sunday night.
South African president, Jacob Zuma, said in a release that doctors are “doing
everything possible to get his condition to improve.”
After the announcement, global watchers and followers of Mandela’s began
posting of his health situation report on the social media, especially Twitter,
apprehensive of what to expect after his “critical” condition.
Zuma said 94-year-old Mandela, who is battling recurrent lung infection “is in
good hands.”
“The condition of former president, Nelson Mandela, who is still in hospital in
Pretoria, has become critical,” Mac Maharaj, presidential spokesman, said in a
statement.
Mandela, South Africa’s first black president was admitted in hospital earlier
this month for the third time this year, with a recurrent lung infection.
The statement said Zuma, Sunday evening, visited Mandela in hospital, in
Pretoria and was told the former president’s condition had worsened over the
past 24 hours.
“The doctors are doing “everything possible” to get his condition to improve
and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable.
A Twitter account at the weekend said he hadn’t responded to treatment since
his admission over two weeks ago.
Another account said two of his vital abdominal organs had been non-functional.
President Zuma had appealed for prayers for Mandela and his medical team.
Nelson Rohihlahia Mandela was born on 18 July 1918, near Umtata, in the
Transkei region of South Africa. His father was Chief Henry Mandela of the
Tembu Tribe.
He grew up among the Xhosa-speaking Thembu people in a small village in the
eastern Cape of South Africa. In South Africa, he is often called by his clan
name – “Madiba”.
According to BBC, Born Rolihlahla Dalibhunga, he was given his English name,
Nelson, by a teacher at his school.
His father, a counsellor to the Thembu royal family, died when Nelson Mandela
was nine, and he was placed in the care of the acting regent of the Thembu
people, chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
In 1941, aged 23, he ran away from an arranged marriage and went to
Johannesburg.
Two years later, he enrolled for a law degree at the mainly Afrikaner
Witswaterand University, where he met people from all races and backgrounds.
He was exposed to liberal, radical and Africanist thought, as well as racism
and discrimination, which fuelled his passion for politics.
The same year, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and later
co-founded the ANC Youth League.
He married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, in 1944. They were divorced in 1958
after having four children.
Mr Mandela qualified as a lawyer and in 1952 opened a law practice in
Johannesburg with his partner, Oliver Tambo.
Together, Mr Mandela and Mr Tambo campaigned against apartheid, the system
devised by the all-white National Party which oppressed the black majority.
In 1956, Mr Mandela was charged with high treason, along with 155 other
activists, but the charges against him were dropped after a four-year trial.
Resistance to apartheid grew, mainly against the new Pass Laws, which dictated
where black people were allowed to live and work.
In 1958, Mr Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, who was later to take an active
role in the campaign to free her husband from prison.
The ANC was outlawed in 1960 and Mr Mandela went underground.
Tension with the apartheid regime grew, and soared to new heights in 1960 when
69 black people were shot dead by police in the Sharpeville massacre.
