Skip to footer

Mandela's grandson says he is 'recovering very well and looks good'

Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, said his grandfather is showing signs of improvement. Mandela is recovering from a lung infection. 

|
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, sings at the funeral of an extended family member Florence Mandela in Qunu, Saturday.
  • By Yvonne Bell Reuters

| Qunu, South Africa

Former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is recovering well from a lung infection which has kept him in a serious condition in hospital for a week, his grandson said on Saturday.

The comment by Mandla Mandela was the latest indication that the health of his 94-year-old grandfather, South Africa's first black president, was showing signs of improvement. Mandela has been receiving visits from family members after he was rushed to hospital a week ago with a recurrence of lung problems.

"Madiba is recovering very well and looks good," Mandla Mandela said in Qunu, a village in the Eastern Cape province where Mandela was born and spent his early years.

Speaking in Xhosa at a funeral of another relative, Mandla used the clan name 'Madiba' by which Mandela is popularly known.

"I thank the nation and the world for the prayers for Madiba, and the doctors and the office of the ANC for keeping the family updated," he said.

South Africa's government said on Thursday that Mandela was continuing to recover but his condition remained serious.

Mandela's hospitalisation is his fourth since December and has reinforced growing awareness among South Africa's 53 million people that they will one day have to say goodbye to the father of the "Rainbow Nation" created from the ashes of apartheid.

Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to his time at the windswept Robben Island prison camp nearCape Town. He was released in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and went on to serve as president from 1994 to 1999.

Reporting by Yvonne Bell; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Mandela's grandson says he is 'recovering very well and looks good'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0615/Mandela-s-grandson-says-he-is-recovering-very-well-and-looks-good
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe