Following a term in intensive care, Nelson Mandela died last night in his Johannesburg home aged 95. The former prisoner of apartheid was suffering from a lung infection for a prolonged period before he died peacefully, president Jacob Zuma said.
We’re not planning on covering global issues, but this is a special one-off situation. A great activist for peace, basic civil rights for everybody, and for racial equality, has just left the building, and the World will miss him greatly.
Mandela done 27 years hard labour on Robben Island for speaking out against the persecution that many blacks in South Africa were subjected to. But he managed to keep the fight going, peacefully, and eventually helped to end apartheid, only to become his country’s first black president in 1994. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Here is Zuma’s announcement of Mandela’s passing.
Nelson Mandela RIP
IMAGE: Frederik de Klerk and Nelson Mandela shake hands at the World Economic Forum in 1992. This meeting took place at a fractious time during the ending of apartheid – image credit: World Economic Forum/Flickr
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