Pretoria - Members of the taxi industry visited the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria on Friday where former president Nelson Mandela is being treated.
They used the occasion to urge the Mandela family to keep their quarrels out of the public eye.
“There is no family that is without problems, but we must not hang our linen for all to see. They must afford the man peace,” said chairwoman of the Women's League of the National Taxi Alliance, Lorraine Sifuba.
Mandela has spent 35 days in the hospital under treatment for a recurring lung infection. The latest medical update describes his condition as “critical but stable”.
The taxi owners sang and prayed before placing flowers against the hospital wall that has turned into a tourist attraction.
Sifuba said that as a Xhosa person it pained her deeply to see members of the Mandela family fighting on the news.
“We are not only praying for him, but for the family for peace. He has never enjoyed his time in the world because he has been fighting for us, and now he is fighting for his own life. He needs peace,” she said.
Chairman of the Greater Tshwane Regional Taxi Council, Abner Tsebe, said it was sad the world would celebrate Mandela Day with the icon lying in a hospital bed.
“It is sad that as we enter the second week of the Mandela month, our daily lives as a nation have been shaped by his hospitalisation. This has been a struggle in our lives, mainly because the very man who led our struggle to freedom is now lying in bed fighting for his life.”
Tsebe said the taxi industry wanted to remind South Africans that Madiba was never a sad man.
“Even when his enemies tormented him for the longest time of his youthful life, he came out of prison with his hands raised up in victory. He urged us to look beyond his suffering in order to enjoy a new era of a free South Africa.”
Tsebe praised Mandela for the success taxi owners were enjoying in the country.
Because of Mandela's ethos, there was unity among different associations and people of different races.
“You are a hero. Even as you lie there in the help of doctors and experts in the hospital, that cannot equal to the fight you won for us. Your part is done and it's for us to do ours,” said Tsebe. - Sapa