Nelson Mandela too frail to stand, give speech on South Africa's election day

[HamdenRice]

There is a lot that could be written about South Africa's elections today and the perilous political path it has been on and seems to be going down. But that's a post for another day.



The saddest note was that at an election day rally where Nelson Mandela endorsed his party's candidate, the former president and freedom fighter was described as too frail to stand for the national anthem or to give a speech.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-04-20-mandela-steals-zumas-coronation

South Africa's first black president was helped on to the stage by Jacob Zuma, the man set to become the fourth. Wearing a baseball cap, Mandela then took his seat and, smiling serenely, effortlessly upstaged the man whose coronation this was meant to be.

Too frail to stand during the national anthem or to make a speech, Mandela spoke in a short recorded message played on stadium TV screens. He said the "primary task" for the ANC is to "eradicate poverty and ensure a better life for all". He did not mention Zuma by name.

In an emotional moment charged with a little wistfulness, the crowd then rose as one to sing, "Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela", paying tribute to the retired statesman, now in his twilight years.

<end quote>

Mandela is just shy of 91 years old. He was imprisoned from 1964 until 1991. But if you include his first treason trial, he was in and out of prison going back to 1956 -- a total of 34 years or just over one third of his life.

[ananda]

1. Mandela must be getting very old and frail.

He's been through so much and came out
of it such a luminous soul...

[HamdenRice]

5. He's just shy of 91 nt

[goclark]

2. What a giant of a man ~ he is still giving his all - K and R

:cry:

[HamdenRice]

3. Actually, it's kind of disgraceful the way he has been sidelined and mistreated lately

It's not what most people outside South Africa think. He has been humiliated by his successors for no good reason.

[goclark]

4. I didn't know that -thanks for letting me

know.

Sad

[Skidmore]

6. We are fortunate to have lived in the same time as this great man

and, for some of us older people, in the time of MLK and Gandhi as well.

[Vidar]

7. Sad to hear. What a hero!

[HamdenRice]

8. The way he has been treated in his own country is almost as sad. nt

[tabatha]

9. How has he been treated by his own country?

[HamdenRice]

10. Intentionally humiliated

South African politics have become extremely complicated, mainly as a result of Mandela's successor Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki was Mandela's main assistant when Mandela was president. He was the son of one of Mandela's prison comrades. Mbeki acted somewhat like a prime minister to Mandela's presidency.

But most South Africans wanted Cyril Ramaphosa, a former labor leader and the main drafter of the constitution and negotiator of the democratic transition to succeed Mandela. Mandela was persuaded to choose Mbeki.

soon after Mbeki became president he began a series of slights of Mandela intended to shove him into retirement and out of the limelight -- including Mbeki's refusing to meet with or take Mandela's phone calls for over a year.

After Mandela began criticizing Mbeki's horrible AIDS drugs policy (refusing to provide them), Mbeki orchestrated a session of the ANC convention in which he publicly humiliated Mandela.

Karma's a bitch though. Mbeki was thrown out of office before his second term ended (while we were bitching about not being able to impeach Bush) in a power struggle over the ANC with Jacob Zuma, who is likely to win today's election and may well be worse than Mbeki. They are trotting out the frail Mandela to give legitimacy to Zuma, one of the ANC's most corrupt pols, in order to win the election.

It's all very sad and tawdry.