Post date: Jun 13, 2013 11:48:52 PM
In a speech to the parliament, South African President Jacob Zuma pays tribute to former president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela whose health is improving but remains serious as he recovers from a recurring lung problem.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 13, 2013) (SABC) - South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday (June 13) paid tribute to former president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela who remains in hospital for a fifth day.
In a speech to parliament, Zuma reminded people not to "create their own superficial image of Mandela.""They must love Madiba, the volunteer in chief of the defiance campaign of 1952,Madiba the UmKhonto we Sizwe commander in chief, Madiba the revolutionary,Madiba the long-serving prisoner," said Zuma, using the 94-year-old Mandela's clan name, in his address to the parliament in Cape Town.
UmKhonto we Sizwe is the name of the armed wing which Mandela co-founded in the fight against apartheid.
Zuma also reminded the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) to recognise Mandela's legacy.
"We must not only focus Madiba, the first president of a democratic South Africawho implemented ANC policies of reconciliation and transformation. His rich legacy and history must not be distorted. The way he's portrayed by the DA (Democratic Alliance party) is as if Madiba was born in 1994. There was no life before. If they supported Madiba, they should support what he stood for and what he went to prison for and what he said over the years. They must just not say Madiba was only a nice ANC man," Zuma said.
Mandela continues to recover from a lung infection but his condition remains serious, the South African government said on Thursday.
Zuma visited Mandela in the Pretoria hospital to which he was admitted in a "serious but stable" condition on Saturday, a statement said.
Mandela's hospitalisation is his fourth since December and has reinforced a creeping realisation among South Africa's 53 million people that they will one day have to say goodbye to their first black president.
During his time in hospital, the principal architect of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" has also received visits from members of his family, including his wifeGraca Machel and former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to his time at the windswept Robben Island prison camp near Cape Town. He was released in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and went on to serve as president from 1994 to 1999.