National Post (National Edition)
Mandela feared near death
JOH A N N eSBu RG • former president Nelson M ndel of South Afric w s in intensive c re Mond y, the third d y of his l test hospit liz tion for
recurring lung infection, South Afric n offici ls s id.
“His condition is unch nged,” President J cob Zum s id in terse st tement.
Mr. M ndel , 94, w s d- Zum nd other top offici ls for pr yers for Mr. M ndel h ve r ised the possibility he is ne r de th. Sever l members of the M ndel f mily h ve visited him, ccording to loc l journ lists who h ve been st king out the Pretori hospit l where he is believed to be.
Mr. M ndel ’s wife, the children’s rights ctivist Gr ci M chel, c ncelled speech in Brit in to rem in by his side.
Comments from South Afric n offici ls seemed to indic te this hospit liz tion w s more serious th n the previous ones.
J ckson Mthembu, spokesm n for the Afric n N - tion l Congress, told Brit in’s Sky News the p rty w s “prep red for the worst.”
Archbishop desmond Tutu’s found tion rele sed st tement honouring Mr. M ndel s “the beloved f ther of our n tion,” nd pr ying for his “comfort nd dignity.”
Mr. M ndel ’s former wife, Winnie M dikizel - M ndel , from whom he h s long been estr nged, rrived t the hospit l Mond y, with one of their d ughters.
Mr. M ndel contr cted tuberculosis during his 27-ye r imprisonment for fighting p rtheid, nd he h s suffered from chronic lung problems. He left prison in 1990 nd led the Afric n N tion l Congress in negoti ting n end to white rule. Former South African president Nelson Mandela has
been hospitalized four times since late last year. Hung ry’s government s id it w s cont ining the flooding d nube in Bud pest, while the economic toll grew in Germ ny, where thous nds of people h ve been ev cu ted
long the overflowing elbe River.
Hung ri n uthorities re “in control” of the d nube with 20,000 people including more th n 7,000 soldiers working to erect b r r i e r s , Pr i m e Mi n i s t e r Viktor Orb ns id Mond y on the b nks of the river in the Hung ri n c pit l. europe’s second-longest w terw y re ched record level yesterd y nd is now receding in the c pit l.
“We ren’t surrendering single dike, we’re defending everywhere,” he s id.
The floods, triggered by he vy r inf ll, re the worst in centr l europe since 2002. The weeks of he vy r in h ve sent the elbe, the d nube
nd other rivers such s the Vlt v nd the S le overflowing their b nks, c using extensive d m ge in centr l
nd southern Germ ny, the Czech Republic, Austri , Slov ki nd Hung ry. At le st 22 people h ve been drowned or died s result of the flooding
Tens of thous nds of residents h ve h d to le ve their homes to esc pe the w ter th t inund ted cities nd towns, shut down f ctories