Mandela 'Steadily Improving' on 95th birthday

(AP) Mandela ‘steadily improving’ on 95th birthday
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG

South Africa celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday on Thursday, a milestone capped by news that the former president’s health was improving after fears that he was close to death during ongoing hospital treatment.

Mandela was taken to a hospital on June 8 for treatment for a recurring lung infection. In previous announcements, the government said he was in critical but stable condition. Court documents filed by Mandela’s family earlier this month had said Mandela was on life support and near death.

Mandela is making “remarkable progress,” said one of his daughters, Zindzi, on Thursday, after tense weeks in which some South Africans talked about the possibility that Mandela was on the verge of dying.

Thursday also marked the 15th wedding anniversary of Mandela and Graca Machel, the former First Lady of Mozambique who has spent much of the time at her husband’s side during his illness.

Schools around South Africa honored the anti-apartheid leader in special assemblies, and many people volunteered 67 minutes for charitable activities to match what organizers said were the 67 years of public service by Mandela, leader of the fight against white minority rule. Activities were also planned at the United Nations headquarters in New York City and other parts of the world.

President Jacob Zuma opened low-cost housing for poor black and white families in the Pretoria area. South Africa is struggling with high unemployment, labor unrest, service delivery shortcomings and other social challenges that have dampened the expectations of a better life for black South Africans after the end of apartheid two decades ago.

Elsewhere in South Africa, social workers, military commanders and others joined in planting trees, painting hospices, and donating food, blankets and other basic necessities in poor areas. Doctors also administered eye tests, inoculations and other medical treatments to the needy.

Visiting Pretoria, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso packed food parcels at a charity event. Van Rompuy said his two sons were fans of Mandela, whom he described as “the brightest sun of South Africa.”

The U.N has declared July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day as a way of recognizing the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s contribution to reconciliation. A procession was held in India to honor Mandela. In Washington, U.S. congressional leaders planned a ceremony later Thursday.

Mandela was jailed for 27 years under apartheid and led a difficult transition from apartheid to democracy, becoming president in all-race elections in 1994. He served one five-year term, evolving into a global statesman and pursuing charitable causes after that. He retired from public life years ago.

In other activities marking Mandela’s birthday, English Premier League football team Manchester City was scheduled to play South Africa’s AmaZulu team at Durban’s World Cup stadium later Thursday. The game is the second of two pre-season matches in South Africa for Manchester City in the Nelson Mandela Football Invitational.

The ANC was the leading liberation movement during apartheid, and has dominated politics since the end of white rule. However, it has come under increasing criticism because of corruption scandals and frustration over poverty and other problems.

In recent months, the ANC and opposition groups have sought to emphasize their connections to Mandela’s legacy in the fight for democracy, leading to accusations of political opportunism on both sides.

F.W. de Klerk, the last president of the apartheid era, said in a statement that Mandela’s birthday “should be a time for quiet and respectful contemplation–and not for unseemly squabbling over the ownership of Mr Mandela’s heritage.”

He continued: “Throughout his life he has been a loyal and stalwart member of the ANC–but I believe that through his example and through his unwavering commitment to national reconciliation–all South Africans, regardless of their race or political affiliation, can now proudly call him their own.”

De Klerk shared the Nobel prize with Mandela in 1993 because he effectively negotiated his own government out of power, working on a political transition with Mandela that allayed fears of all-out racial conflict.

Mandela’s former wife said she wanted to reassure South Africans who fear the eventual death of Mandela, a unifying figure, would open the way to unrest.

However, she said: “The country will solidify, come together and carry on.”

___

Associated Press writer Wandoo Makurdi contributed to this report from Johannesburg.