admin“So much love and generosity from South Africans, Africans across the continent, and thousands more from across the world, have come our way to lighten the burden of anxiety; bringing us love, comfort and hope,” Graca said in a message posted on the website of Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.
Mandela (94), was rushed to a Pretoria hospital from his Johannesburg home on June 8 for a recurring lung problem.
According to the latest update by President Jacob Zuma on Sunday, Mandela “continues to get better”.
“Over the last two days, although he remains serious, his doctors have stated that his improvement has been sustained,” Zuma said at a rally to commemorate the country’s National Youth Day in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal Province.
Since Mandela was hospitalised, well-wishers have come to his Johannesburg home or the hospital where he was receiving treatment to show their support for the anti-apartheid icon.
“The messages have come by letter, by SMS, by phone, by twitter, by Facebook, by email, cards, flowers and the human voice, in particular the voices of children in schools or singing outside our home.
“We have felt the closeness of the world and the deepest meaning of strength and peace,” Graca said in her message.
“Our gratitude is difficult to express. But the love and peace we feel give yet more life to the simple Thank you!” she said.
Graca quoted Mandela’s words as saying: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived.
“It is what difference we have made in the lives of others.”
“I have thought of his words on each occasion the world stood with him, making a difference to him, in his healing,” Graca said.
Mandela, who served as South Africa’s first black president from 1994 to 1999, has long suffered a lung infection which was the result of tuberculosis developed when he served a 27-year term in prison under the apartheid rule.
Mandela has been in and out of hospital several times since last December, raising concern about his frail health.
Meanwhile, one of his bodyguards told AFP on Saturday that Mandela is a very lonely man, and accused his medical team of controlling visits like prison guards.
Shaun van Heerden spoke out against the team run by army Surgeon General Vejay Ramlakan.
“At times it felt like he was back in prison,” Van Heerden said.
The bodyguard said he was “given leave” by his employers over accusations that he leaked the place where Mandela was being treated to the media.
Before he was checked in last week to receive treatment for a recurring lung infection, in what appeared to be the most serious in a string of recent health scares, Mandela was receiving medical care from his Johannesburg home.
Van Heerden charged the medical staff surrounding Mandela often curtailed the frail statesman’s freedom by imposing unnecessarily tough restrictions on visits.
“Even before he was admitted few people were allowed to see him. Some of his old friends were denied access,” he alleged.
Van Heerden also accused members of the medical team of being “starstruck” and overstepping their duties when around Madiba, often posing for pictures with him.
“I have witnessed cases where some of them shoved copies of his book, The Long Walk to Freedom, into his hands for him to sign.”
“That is amazing, and I did not like it,” he said.
Van Heerden who worked as Mandela’s bodyguard for nearly 10 years described him as a “gentleman who seriously cares about those around him”.
Security has been beefed up at the specialist private facility in Pretoria where Mandela was checked in on 8 June, with police searching vehicles and people going in.
Details about Mandela’s exact condition have not been released, but officials say he is receiving “intensive care”. — Xinhua/AFP.
Online Reporter