Doctors are working to improve Nelson Mandela’s health as he spent a fourth day in the hospital for a recurring lung infection, South Africa’s president said Tuesday. (June 11)
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Cape Town South Africa – June 11, 2013
1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa:
“We are all feeling it, that our, our president, really the father of democracy in South Africa, he was the first president, is in the hospital. Yesterday I met the team of doctors who are treating him. They gave me a very thorough briefing and really I was very confident that they know what they are doing and they are doing a very good job. Whilst it’s very serious, but he’s stabilised. And we are all praying for him really to recuperate quickly. We need him to be with us. And I’m sure that all the messages that have been pouring in, to wish him quickly, quick, and a speedy recovery, they are highly welcome. But that also indicates the love of our people to him and we certainly join everyone to say he should recover quickly and I’m sure, knowing him as I do, he’s a good fighter, he will be with us very soon.”
STORYLINE:
Doctors are doing all they can to improve Nelson Mandela’s health as the 94-year-old icon spent a fourth day in the hospital for a recurring lung infection, South Africa’s president said Tuesday, as two of Mandela’s daughters visited their father.
In a possible sign of the seriousness of Mandela’s condition, daughter Zenani Mandela _ South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina _ arrived at the hospital to see her father. Former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela also visited.
Mandela’s doctors briefed President Jacob Zuma on the former president’s health late Monday, the president said in a statement.
In an interview, Zuma called Mandela’s situation “very serious” but said he has stabilized.
Mandela, the leader of South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, spent 27 years in prison during white racist rule. He was freed in 1990, and then embarked on peacemaking efforts during the tense transition that saw the demise of the apartheid system and his own election as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.
His admission to a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, is Mandela’s fourth time being admitted to a hospital for treatment since December. His last discharge came April 6 after doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and drained fluid from his lung area.
