Political messages of support are pouring in for ailing former president Nelson Mandela on Thursday, while the ruling party called for calm amid an information blackout on the state of his health.
The ID, DA, FF Plus and ANC Youth League in statements on Thursday all wished Mandela a speedy recovery, while the ANC’s Jackson Mthembu gave assurances that although the 92-year-old was “no longer a young man”, the nation should “remain calm…and not press any panic buttons”.
President Jacob Zuma, attending the final day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, later echoed the ANC’s call for “calm and restraint”, assuring the nation that Mandela “is comfortable and is well looked after by a good team of medical specialists”.
He called on journalists to “balance the quest for stories with acting within the bounds of human decency and ensuring the respect for human dignity”.
He said the doctors needed to be allowed to do their work without undue pressure.
Zuma’s spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, said the speculation around Mandela’s health was “very un-African and very alien to the African culture”.
Kodwa on Thursday afternoon said by SMS that Zuma intended to stick to his original travel plans, which would see him go to Addis Ababa before returning to South Africa on Tuesday.
By Thursday night the only communication about Mandela’s health was a short statement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday afternoon, confirming that he was undergoing “routine tests”.
Justice minister Jeff Radebe, a friend of the Mandela family, went to visit Mandela in hospital on Thursday but his spokesman Tlali Tlali did not respond to an e-mail query about the reason for Radebe’s visit and he refused to comment by phone.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said she was “extremely concerned” about reports over Mandela’s health, but said: “I don’t think we should underestimate the tremendous will to live of the man that went through 27 years in jail to become our president of South Africa.”
She also gave Mandela the assurance that “our national will is behind you all the way”.
DA leader Helen Zille said the party wished Mandela “a speedy and healthy discharge from hospital”, adding “we must respond to the current situation with the dignity and calm that he would expect”.
The FF Plus said any illness at Mandela’s age “should be regarded in a serious light” and called for more information on his health to be made available.
The ANC Youth League said that Mandela “remains our greatest inspiration in everything we do, and we are confident that he will stay strong”.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, a close friend of the Mandela family, did not issue any statement on Thursday and his phone was switched off. - Political Bureau