1 Patriotic Nigerian leader that could have hastened Mandela's release from prison

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One Nigerian leader that could have hastened Mandela's release from prison or an outright military confrontation with the Apartheid regime in South Africa was Murtala Mohammed.Said “When I contemplate the evils of apartheid, my heart bleeds and I am sure the heart of every true blooded African bleeds...” speech at the OAU heads of state extraordinary meeting in Addis Ababa on January 9,1976 shocked the world.He was killed 32 days after this speech.
I assume Obasanjo acted on Murtala's wish and convened the largest World Conference for Action against Apartheid on August 1977 in Lagos that brought men like Olof Palme,the Swedish prime minister.ANC leader at the time Oliver Tambo wept in Lagos over the death of Mohammed.
There was a time all of Africa looked up to their big brother...
By
Chika Omeje

Late Nelson Mandela's Will to be read today

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The will of former South African President Nelson Mandela is due to be read on Monday, potentially kicking off another round of squabbling among members of his large and factious family over the anti-apartheid hero's financial legacy. Mandela, who died in December at the age of 95, has left behind an estate that includes an upscale house in Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural Eastern Cape home province and royalties from book sales, including his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom".
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Awolowo Was Greater Than Mandela, Writer/Poet Odia Ofeimun Says ( Do you agree ?)

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In an interview with Sahara TV, the writer, poet & social critique said late premier of the old Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was a greater man than South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, Dr. Nelson Mandela.

I am too much of an Awolowo man not to see that the process of moving into independence in South Africa and in Nigeria followed exactly the same pattern. It was based on a negotiated settlement. The liberation struggle did not create the end of apartheid. It was a negotiation and Nigerians negotiated exactly the way Mandela negotiated.

South Africa unveils Big Nelson Mandela unity statue in Pretoria

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A day after the anti-apartheid revolutionary was buried, South Africa unveiled a huge 30-foot bronze statue of the former president. The unity statue was unveiled today December 16th on the lawns of the Union Buildings, which is the seat of government in Pretoria.

Photos from Nelson Mandela's funeral

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 See more Pics after the break.

Mandela: Rainbow Nation Pays Its Respects, Appears Over Building Where Nelson Mandela’s Body Lies In State [Pics]

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 On Thursday, a rainbow appeared over the Union Buildings, the government offices in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, where Nelson Mandela’s body lies in state.

Ex-Jailers, Prisoners, Unite To Honour Mandela

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Nelson Mandela's prison cell, Robben Island, South Africa

CAPE TOWN  - Nelson Mandela’s former jailers and fellow prisoners united in his memory Tuesday across the water from Robben Island where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.  Ex-prison guard Christo Brand was among some 200 people packed into an auditorium at the ferry departure point — known as “Nelson Mandela Gateway” — to the island off Cape Town which is now a museum and top tourist site.

President Goodluck Jonathan Snubbed At Mandela’s Memorial. (Must Read)

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Despite leaving Nigeria early for the funeral of late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, President Goodluck Jonathan has been snubbed by the South African authorities at the State Memorial Service of the anti-apartheid leader.

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Mandela Can't Speak – Ex-Wife Winnie

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Former South African president Nelson Mandela is still unable to speak but uses facial expressions to communicate, his ex-wife has told a local newspaper.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said the 95-year-old remained “quite ill” but she dismissed speculation that he was on a life support machine.

Famous Celebrity Bodyguard, "Norman Oosterbroek" Killed By Police In Miami Florida

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 Sept 6, 2013 – Jay-Z, Beyonce, Nelson Mandela & Rihanna BodyGuard Killed In Miami – Norman Oosterbroek Tasered Dead By Police In Miami Florida For Invading Neighbour’s Home Nak-ed Popular celebrity bodyguard, Norman Oosterbroek is dead.

The 43-year-old security expert died on Monday September 2nd, 2013 in Miami Florida.
While under the influence of cocaine, Norman broke into his neighbour’s mansion in Miami Florida. The victim called police on him and every attempt to arrest him proved abortive.
Police laser tasered him to death for trespassing naked.

See more photos after the break.

Winnie Mandela releases journal on prison life

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Winnie Mandela

JOHANNESBURG  (AFP) – Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie on Thursday released a book about her detention by the apartheid regime, a time she described as the darkest part of her life.

The book “491 Days: Prisoner number 1323/69″ is based on a journal Winnie Madikizela-Mandela kept in prison during her detention. “In my mind I felt that we needed to tell the story to the future generations, so that what happened there never happens again,” she said at the launch in Johannesburg.

In the book Winnie shares some of her journal entries as well as letters between her husband and herself.

“Solitary confinement is worst than hard labour,” she said.

“When you stretch your hands you touch the walls, you are reduced to a nobody.”

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Family files criminal charges against Mandela grandson over graves

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South African police confirmed on Tuesday that criminal charges had been filed against Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela's grandson, over allegations of "tampering with a grave."

The case is part of a wider question of where Nelson Mandela will be buried when he dies.

The criminal charges add to an ongoing civil suit being waged between Mandla, a member of parliament, and 16 family members.

The network of relatives accuse him of moving the remains of three of Nelson Mandela's children from a cemetery in Qunu village to the town of Mvezo, in the rural Eastern Cape province.

Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo and Mandla is the head of the tradtional council there.

"Members of the family have opened the case," said Eastern Cape police spokesman Mzukisi Fatyela.

"The docket will be sent to the senior public prosecutor for further investigation."

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Nelson Mandela is on life support Machine

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Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is on life support, unable to breathe on his own, an elder in the South African icon’s clan said Wednesday, all but extinguishing hopes for his recovery.

“Yes, he is using machines to breathe,” Napilisi Mandela told AFP after visiting the much-loved 94 year old’s bedside in Pretoria. “It is bad, but what can we do.”

Just how bad becomes clearer by the hour. President Jacob Zuma late Wednesday abruptly cancelled a visit planned to neighbouring Mozambique after visting Mandela’s Pretoria hospital.

 

It is the first time Zuma has scrapped an engagement since Mandela was hospitalised nearly three weeks ago.

Press, friend call to let ailing Mandela Die

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Cars are parked in front of the 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on June 8, 2013, where former South African President Nelson Mandela is possibly hospitalized.

South Africans were urged to let go of their beloved hero Nelson Mandela on Sunday after the ailing 94-year-old spent a second night in hospital with a recurrent pneumonia infection.

Officials have not released an update on Mandela's health since announcing that he was back in hospital and was in a "serious but stable" condition more than 24 hours ago.  "It's time to let him go," was the front-page headline in the Sunday Times with a picture of the former statesman smiling and waving. It is the fourth hospital stay for Mandela, who turns 95 next month, since December. The presidency confirmed Saturday that Mandela is breathing unassiste

Update: Nelson Mandela 2nd night in hospital

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Former South African President Nelson Mandela is spending a second night in hospital where he is being treated for a lung infection. Doctors say there has been little change and his condition continues to be described as serious but stable.

Mandela, 94, had been ill for some days before being transferred in the early hours of Saturday to a hospital in Pretoria.

It is the third time this year he has been admitted to hospital.  The BBC's Karen Allen in Pretoria says there is a sense of calm across South Africa, and also a quiet hope that the man who led the fight against apartheid may regain his strength once again.

Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, cancelled a scheduled appearance in London to remain at her husband's bedside.

S.A : MANDELA IN HOSPITAL WITH LUNG INFECTION

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Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first black president, has been admitted to a hospital with a recurring lung infection, South Africa said Thursday.

Mandela, 94, has become increasingly frail in recent years and has been hospitalized several times since last year, most recently earlier this month when he underwent what a presidential spokesman described as a "successful" medical test. The Nobel laureate is a revered figure in South Africa, which has honored his legacy of reconciliation by naming buildings and other places after him and printing his image on national banknotes.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sad," said Obed Mokwana, a Johannesburg resident. "I just try to pray all the time. He must come very strong again."

Nelson Mandela's Ex-Wife Blamed For Murder

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Johannesburg - The exhumation of two graves, believed to contain the remains of two young men who were reported missing to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), is underway in Soweto.

Siboniso Anthony Shabalala’s mother blames Winnie Madikizela–Mandela for her son’s murder.

Corlett “Lolo” Sono and Siboniso Anthony Shabalala disappeared more than 24 years ago and now the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) believes they have found their bodies.

Their deaths are alleged to have involved Winnie Madikizela–Mandela. Under a muted grey sky haphazard rows of black granite tomb stones lie scattered amid unmarked graves.

Mandela Is Losing His Memory

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Mr George Bizos, Former President Nelson Mandela’s close friend and long time lawyer, has said that the memory of the 94-year-old South Africa’s political icon is fading.

He told newsmen in Johannesburg on Monday after visiting Mandela that “he was doing okay” but that his memory was not what it used to be. Bizos said that Mandela seemed to have forgotten that some of their mutual friends had died.

“Unfortunately,  he sometimes forgets that one or two of them had passed on and his face is blank when you tell him that Walter Sisulu and some others are no longer with us,” he said.

Obasanjo has broadened Africa’s democracy — Mandela

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FORMER South African president, Nelson Mandela has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a prominent role in actualising the survival of democracy not only in Africa, but also the world at large.
Mandela described Obasanjo’s outstanding leadership qualities as epochal, which he added, assisted him to restore democracy in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan.
The ex-South African leader made his stand known in the foreword he wrote in a two-volume book entitled Olusegun Obasanjo: The Presidential Legacy, 1999-2007 co-edited by Professor Oladipupo Akinkugbe and Ahmed Joda.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Discharged from hospital

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After almost three weeks in the hospital, former South African president, Nelson Mandela was discharged today Wednesday December 26th. The 94 year old was admitted to the hospital on Saturday December 8th to receive treatment for a lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones, which the doctors say was successful.