Nelson Mandela hospitalized

Former South African President and ANC activist Nelson Mandela is in hospital

27.01.2011

Nelson Mandela is in hospital in Johannesburg. The 92-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former South African president had gathered there for a routine examination and was in total „good things“, reported the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday.

„Nelson Mandela is still in the Milpark hospital in Johannesburg, where he undergoes a routine check-up“ shared the party „African National Congress (ANC)“, whose leader Mandela has been for many years, on Thursday. At the same time, the spokespersons of the ruling ANC called on the population not to panic, because Mandela was no longer a young man, but he was medically well looked after and there was no reason to fear worse.

Clinic denied information about health status
Information from physicians on the state of health of the formerly leading anti-apartheid fighter has not been disclosed since hospital admission Mandela. All access to the hospital is controlled by police officers to prevent the siege of the former South African president by journalists. Only close confidants have access. So Mandela's current wife Graça Machel with daughter Josina, other relatives and the personal assistant Mandelas, Zelda la Grange, were already visiting. Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who also played an important role in the anti-apartheid movement, also paid a visit to her ex-husband on Thursday morning.

Prostate cancer as a possible cause?
Already for years, the state of health of Mandela has deteriorated continuously. In 2001, a prostate cancer disease of the then 83-year-old was reported for the first time. Although this had no further health consequences for the Nobel Peace Prize winner after radiotherapy, Mandela continued to reduce as he got older. However, since the diagnoses of his state of health are still kept up to date like state secrets, journalists and other interested people from all over the world can only get a vague idea of ​​his condition on the basis of the few public appearances that Mandela is still against. Mandela last worked in the year 2010 very frail, sometimes absent. However, immediately before his 13 -year-old great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela had died as a result of a car accident. But the fact that Mandela interview requests for some time categorically rejects and receives even high-level state guests only in exceptional cases, indicates that it is not good for his overall health. Madiba, as the South Africans call him by his traditional clan name, lived in seclusion with his family at his home in Johannesburg's Houghton district until he was hospitalized.

Most South Africans are worried about their health
Although Mandela rarely appears in public life, most South Africans adore him and are worried about the current hospitalization. „Madiba we love you“ is standing on a banner at a school next to the hospital. And on the Internet are comments like: „God, protect Mandela, the world is not yet ready to lose him!“ His fight against apartheid and racial discrimination, the 27-year detention he has accepted and his commitment to a peaceful transition after his release in February 1990 are not only lasting memories for Africans. He is considered today alongside Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as one of the key representatives in the fight against the global oppression of blacks. From 1994 to 1999, Mandela was president of South Africa, and after his resignation, he continued to work for charity with the help of several foundations he founded. One of the Foundation is dedicated to the free allocation of drugs to AIDS-infected, a topic that is quite controversial in Africa. Mandela's second son, Makgatho Mandela, died in January 2005 at the age of 54 in Johannesburg as a result of the immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS. (Fp)

Image: Andreas Willfahrt