Nelson Mandela Dead At 95

 

Nelson Mandela, the former South African president whose stubborn defiance survived 27 years in prison and led to the dismantling of the country's racist and brutal apartheid system, has died. Mandela was 95 years old. 

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who announced Mandela's death, said, "We've lost our greatest son."

 President Obama spoke shortly after Zuma's announcement, praising Mandela as a man who "bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice." 

"He no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages," Obama said. 

Mandela had a number of issues with his health in recent years including repeated hospitalizations with a chronic lung infection. Mandela had been listed in "serious but stable condition" after entering the hospital in June before returning to home to receive continued medical care. 

President Jacob Zuma's announcement of the death late on Thursday shook South Africa. The streets of the capital Pretoria and of Johannesburg were hushed, and in bars and nightclubs, music was turned off as people gathered to quietly talk about the news.

A sombre Zuma told the nation in a televised address that Mandela "passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of December 2013".

"He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said.

His last public appearance was in July of 2010, when he attended the final match and closing ceremonies of the soccer World Cup held in South Africa. 

 

..............................RIP TO A GREAT LEADER