A pilgrimage of love & sorrow
Mood upbeat, not funereal, outside Mandela hospital
while a rotating roster of Nelson Mandela’s closest relatives, including his wife, Graca Machel, kept a bedside vigil Wednesday at the MediClinic heart hospital, Pretorians continued to pay their respects in song and poetry before a wall outside that has been adorned with bouquets and prayers for South Africa’s first black president, who remained in critical condition 19 days into his fourth extended hospital stay in seven months.
“There is nothing we can do. It is in the hands of Jesus,” wailed Florah Nkosi, dressed in the modest white and blue uniform of a follower of the Apostolic Church in Zion of South Africa.
In a thin, brave voice, the domestic worker, who was carrying an infant she cares for in her arms, sang the Tshwana hymn, ha Le Mpotsa Tshepo Yaka (you Ask for My Faith) before a crowd of South African and foreign journalists from almost every corner of the world.
“I pray to God with all my strength that he will be strong,” she said as she fought back tears. “The nation was destroyed and he rebuilt it by planting the message of the Bible. We must follow the moral ideals that he instilled in us.”
None of those who made the pilgrimage to the hospital were happy about Mr. Mandela’s dire medical situation. But the mood was more upbeat than funereal. While many fretted about his ebbing strength and the pain they assumed he was feeling, this was mixed with joy and a desire to celebrate his life because of the belief he will soon be free of earthly concerns.
Jane Marutle contributed to the almost festive atmosphere by setting up a kitchen to feed journalists, who have spent days and nights sitting across the street from the hospital enduring the South African winter, where temperatures range between 18C by day and 4C at night.
“Business is good. They enjoy my cooking,” said the diplomat’s daughter, who used to live in McLean, Va., as she dished out soup, beef stew, rice and salad for about 70¢ a serving.
“It’s profitable and I love cooking. But I do it because I feel for these people, sitting here for three weeks and getting almost no information from the Mandela family or the government.”
The family and the government have repeatedly appealed to the media and the public to give them space during these difficult days “but they have forgotten that it was the international media who kept the world informed about Mandela and the struggle against apartheid,” said Ms. Marutle, manager of a housing project for poor South Africans.
“They wanted the media’s help then and now they want
Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end
them to go away. This is unfair. It is actually the government and the family who are disturbing things by not being open with the good people of South Africa. We want to know what is actually going with Mandela’s health.”
In the almost total absence of official information, rumours have abounded. The grimmest of the speculation published Tuesday in the Citizen newspaper was he was on life support and his doctors wanted to know from the family if the ventilator he was said to be using to breathe should be switched off.
The Citizen, which has a mostly black readership, claimed five unnamed sources had confirmed Mr. Mandela was on a ventilator. he had suffered kidney failure and was undergoing dialysis every three hours, it said.
Messages on the hospital wall, where many of the media trained their cameras, described Mr. Mandela as an inspiration to blacks in other African countries. he was an “icon” and a “hero” to those who wished him a speedy recovery, but that recovery seems more unlikely with every passing day.
In a clear sign Mr. Mandela was not expected to live much longer, Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, posted a prayer on Facebook after visiting him Tuesday evening. It said: “Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end.”
Like Mr. Mandela’s illness, almost nothing has been revealed about the protracted grieving and burial processes that will take place when he dies. It is likely people will be invited to see him one last time at a soccer stadium near his long-time home in the black township of Soweto before his body is taken to lie in state at the union Building in Pretoria, where he was sworn in as South Africa’s first black president 19 years ago this April.
A state funeral is to take place in the capital, with a second funeral ceremony to follow almost immediately in the eastern Cape, where there has apparently been a family squabble about where, how and when he should be buried.
South African Broadcasting Corp. was said to have conducted rehearsals Tuesday of some of the programming it plans to broadcast immediately after Mr. Mandela’s death is announced.