Post date: Jul 11, 2013 1:58:39 PM
Nelson Mandela receives a second visit in less than 24 hours from South African president Jacob Zuma.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 11, 2013) (REUTERS) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela remained in a critical but stable condition and was responding to treatment, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday (July 11) after visiting the anti-apartheid hero in a Pretoria hospital.
A statement the previous evening said he was "encouraged that Madiba is responding to treatment" and urged the public to continue providing support.Shortly after the president arrived at the Mediclinic, staff from the Correctional Services unveiled a portrait of Mandela outside the hospital.
The regional commissioner of the Correctional Services, Alfred Tsetsani, said prisoners had wanted to pay tribute to Mandela, himself a former prisoner who spent 27 years of his life behind bars in the fight to end apartheid in South Africa.
"Our former president Tata Nelson Mandela has been an inspiration. His life that he lived in correctional facilities, up to the point that he's left the facilities, he has left good messages for them, he has been an influence. So his love for children and his passion for children, this offender wanted to depict in this portrait that you see here," Tsetsani said.
He said the portrait was designed to reflect Mandela's love of children.
"As you can see the tear drops have children in them and he is crying out of love, out of passion and he is shedding these tears because he cares about the people of South Africa and the world, particularly children."
Thursday also marks the 50th anniversary of the day when, in 1963, police raided Liliesleaf, in the Rivonia suburb of Johannesburg, which served as the nerve centre of activists fighting to overturn white supremacist rule.
Those arrested in the raid were charged with sabotage and put on trial in what came to be known as the 'Rivonia trial'. Mandela, who was already under arrest at the time of the raid, was tried and sentenced along with the Liliesleaf activists.