JOHANNESBURG—Former South African President Nelson Mandela's night in the hospital has reignited speculation about his health, illustrating his pull over a country where he helped end white-minority rule and usher in a new democratic beginning.
The 92-year-old antiapartheid activist was admitted Wednesday to a Johannesburg hospital and was still there Thursday for tests, according to his foundation. His stay drew a stream of well-wishers and provoked official jabs at the South African media for covering it so intensely.
Students at a school near the Johannesburg hospital where Nelson Mandela is undergoing tests wish him well on Thursday.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, his official charity, called the tests "routine." It added that Mr. Mandela was in "no danger and is in good spirits." The African National Congress, the party that was once banned in South Africa and later helped Mr. Mandela win the 1994 presidential elections, appealed to the media to refrain from "unfounded and unwarranted speculation." South Africa's current president, Jacob Zuma, who was in Davos, Switzerland, attending the World Economic Forum, asked that Mr. Mandela's family be given "space to support him in privacy."
Yet the official statements did nothing to deter journalists from gathering outside the Milpark Hospital, where Mr. Mandela was staying. They awaited fresh updates and recorded the relatives and high-level visitors who came to see him. The media attention annoyed some ANC leaders.
"We don't understand it," said the ANC's national spokesman, Jackson Mthembu. "We have said he's not gravely ill."
In July, Mr. Mandela made a rare appearance at the final match of the soccer World Cup, circling the field in a golf cart with his wife, Graça Machel. Mr. Mandela stepped down as president in 1999 and the increasingly frail former leader has stayed largely out of the public view in recent years.
Mr. Mandela isn't the only aging African leader whose health is closely followed. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 86 years old, has been dogged by rumors that he is seriously ill with cancer. Mr. Mugabe this week dismissed the latest round of reports that he had gone to Malaysia for prostate surgery. In fact, Mr. Mugabe said, he was in Singapore on vacation.
"Those are the lies they always put across from year to year," said Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for three decades but now is part of a shaky "unity" government. "Now it's something you expect each time I go on leave."
Unlike the Zimbabwean president, Mr. Mandela is no longer in power. The amount of media attention his hospital visit has received, therefore, far outweighs any lingering political influence, according to Steven Friedman, director for the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg.
"People are concerned and they hope he gets better. But if he doesn't, South Africa won't stop working," Mr. Friedman said.
Known across South Africa simply as Madiba, an honorary name given to members of his clan, Mr. Mandela spent a quarter-century imprisoned by the apartheid government in South Africa. His emergence from prison in 1990 precipitated political changes that would bring blacks to the ballot box and bring down a government that segregated citizens based on skin color.
Under Mr. Mandela, the ANC gained and held power; the media was freed; and foreign sanctions aimed at pressuring the apartheid government were lifted, allowing South Africa to re-engage with the world. Yet the anti-apartheid icon was unable to solve some of South Africa's most stubborn problems. The nation continues to struggle with huge wealth gaps, violent crime and high unemployment.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704268104576108032358460352.html
The 92-year-old antiapartheid activist was admitted Wednesday to a Johannesburg hospital and was still there Thursday for tests, according to his foundation. His stay drew a stream of well-wishers and provoked official jabs at the South African media for covering it so intensely.
Students at a school near the Johannesburg hospital where Nelson Mandela is undergoing tests wish him well on Thursday.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, his official charity, called the tests "routine." It added that Mr. Mandela was in "no danger and is in good spirits." The African National Congress, the party that was once banned in South Africa and later helped Mr. Mandela win the 1994 presidential elections, appealed to the media to refrain from "unfounded and unwarranted speculation." South Africa's current president, Jacob Zuma, who was in Davos, Switzerland, attending the World Economic Forum, asked that Mr. Mandela's family be given "space to support him in privacy."
Yet the official statements did nothing to deter journalists from gathering outside the Milpark Hospital, where Mr. Mandela was staying. They awaited fresh updates and recorded the relatives and high-level visitors who came to see him. The media attention annoyed some ANC leaders.
"We don't understand it," said the ANC's national spokesman, Jackson Mthembu. "We have said he's not gravely ill."
In July, Mr. Mandela made a rare appearance at the final match of the soccer World Cup, circling the field in a golf cart with his wife, Graça Machel. Mr. Mandela stepped down as president in 1999 and the increasingly frail former leader has stayed largely out of the public view in recent years.
Mr. Mandela isn't the only aging African leader whose health is closely followed. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 86 years old, has been dogged by rumors that he is seriously ill with cancer. Mr. Mugabe this week dismissed the latest round of reports that he had gone to Malaysia for prostate surgery. In fact, Mr. Mugabe said, he was in Singapore on vacation.
"Those are the lies they always put across from year to year," said Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for three decades but now is part of a shaky "unity" government. "Now it's something you expect each time I go on leave."
Unlike the Zimbabwean president, Mr. Mandela is no longer in power. The amount of media attention his hospital visit has received, therefore, far outweighs any lingering political influence, according to Steven Friedman, director for the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg.
"People are concerned and they hope he gets better. But if he doesn't, South Africa won't stop working," Mr. Friedman said.
Known across South Africa simply as Madiba, an honorary name given to members of his clan, Mr. Mandela spent a quarter-century imprisoned by the apartheid government in South Africa. His emergence from prison in 1990 precipitated political changes that would bring blacks to the ballot box and bring down a government that segregated citizens based on skin color.
Under Mr. Mandela, the ANC gained and held power; the media was freed; and foreign sanctions aimed at pressuring the apartheid government were lifted, allowing South Africa to re-engage with the world. Yet the anti-apartheid icon was unable to solve some of South Africa's most stubborn problems. The nation continues to struggle with huge wealth gaps, violent crime and high unemployment.
Read More
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704268104576108032358460352.html
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