Word: mandelas
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When Nelson Mandela turned 70 last month, his visitors were surprised at how remarkably fit the black nationalist leader looked. Under the rigid discipline he has imposed on himself during the quarter-century he has been imprisoned on a life sentence for sabotage, he rose every morning before dawn for a two-hour workout. But four weeks ago, Mandela suddenly became short of breath. He had difficulty talking, then started coughing up blood. He was transferred from the medical wing of Pollsmoor Prison to Tygerberg Hospital, a major university teaching institution on the other side of Cape Town. Last week...
...highly contagious disease whose symptoms can frequently be ambiguous, tuberculosis is endemic in South Africa. Mandela might have inhaled the TB bacillus in prison and developed the disease immediately, though it is more likely to have lain quiescent in his body for years. Doctors drained three liters of fluid from around his left lung and prescribed antibiotics. Mandela, hospital officials say, is now "up and about and improving steadily," with the encouraging prognosis of full recovery...
...more determined that Mandela should get the finest medical care than South Africa's highest officials, who fear that he might die in jail and set off an explosion of violent protest in the country's black townships. Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee, who oversees the prison system, made a point of visiting Mandela at Tygerberg. Minister of Health Willem van Niekerk sent regular bulletins from the doctors to State President P.W. Botha. In reply to a worried letter from the Rev. Frank Chikane, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Botha assured him, "We are even more concerned...
...millions of his black countrymen and to millions of other people around the world, Mandela, who has been locked up for nearly 26 years, remains a potent figurehead in the struggle toward a postapartheid future in South Africa. Jailed in 1962 for leaving the country illegally and inciting unrest, the symbolic leader of the African National Congress was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for sabotage and plotting to overthrow the government. Since undergoing a prostate operation in November 1985, he has been held in Pollsmoor's hospital wing. Each year he is allowed 30 visits of 40 minutes ; apiece...
...Mandela's continued imprisonment poses a dilemma for Pretoria, which fears that his release could set off widespread black unrest. "Humanitarian considerations must always be weighed against the possibility that civil uprising, violence and terrorism could follow," said Information Minister Stoffel van der Merwe. At least one progovernment voice disagreed. Asked Beeld, the country's largest Afrikaans-language daily: "Do we really want to imprint into our history that we let an old man die in jail while there was the opportunity to negotiate with him on the aspirations of his people...