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IRISH EXAMINER
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www. i r i shexami ner. com Friday, December 6, 2013 No. 59,529 1.90 1
Icon of all icons
NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA 1918-2013
A great light has been extinguished
Nelson Mandela and his then wife, Winnie, after his release from
Victor Verster Prison, in Paari, South Africa on Feb 11, 1990.
The name Mandela stirred our conscience and our hearts. It
became synonymous with the pursuit of dignity and freedom across
the globe. Today, a great light has been extinguished
Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time
British prime minister David Cameron
Nelson Mandela showed us what is possible in our world... His
moral force was decisive in dismantling the system of apartheid
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon
Perhaps the greatest lesson, especially for young people, is that,
while bad things do happen to good people, we still have the free-
dom and responsibility to decide how to respond to injustice, cruelty
and violence and how they will affect our spirits, hearts and minds
Former US president Bill Clinton
As we mourn the passing of this extraordinary man, we can
honour him best by giving of ourselves to others
Former Irish president Mary Robinson
With South Africa now in mourning, it
is preparing itself to bid a last farewell
to the man who taught its people to live
together. Black and white alike, they are
now bracing themselves for life without
their Father. The world is praying that
the Mandela legacy, which has had
such powerful global appeal, will help a
united South Africa not only to endure
in his memory, but go from strength to
strength as a leader among the nations
of Africa. EDITORIAL: 12
Mandela achieved more than can be
expected of any man. Today he has
gone home. He no longer belongs to us,
he now belongs to the ages. Through
his fierce urgency and unbending will,
Madiba transformed South Africa and
all of us. His journey from a prisoner to
a president embodied the promise that
human beings and countries can change
for the better... I cant imagine my life
without the example Mandela set
US President Barack Obama
Former South African president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg in 2007. Picture: AP
by Benjamin Wright
The people of South Africa
turned out in force at the home
of pioneering president Nelson
Mandela to mourn and
celebrate the passing of the man
who helped end apartheid, and
who has died at the age of 95.
The news was announced by
South African president Jacob
Zuma, who said: Fellow South
Africans, our beloved Nelson
Rolihlahla Mandela, the
founding president of our
democratic nation has departed.
He is now resting. He is
now at peace. Our nation has
lost its greatest son. Our people
have lost a father.
South Africans were in shock.
It feels like its my father who
has died. He was such a good
man, who had good values the
nation could look up to. He
was a role model unlike our
leaders of today, said Annah
Khokhozela, 37, a nanny, in
Johannesburg.
Mr Zuma said all of South
Africas thoughts were with Mr
Mandelas family, friends, and
those who fought alongside him
during his struggle for equality.
Our thoughts are with the
South African people who
today mourn the loss of the
one person who more than any
other came to embody their
sense of a common nation.
Our thoughts are with the
millions of people across the
world who embraced Madiba
as their own and who saw his
cause as their cause.
This is the moment of our
deepest sorrow. Our nation has
lost his greatest son. Yet what
made Nelson Mandela great
was precisely what made him
human we saw in him what
we seek in ourselves and in
him we saw so much of
ourselves.
He said the man known as
Madiba brought South Africa
together and would be afforded
a state funeral. South African
flags would be lowered to half
mast until then, he said.
As we gather to pay our
last respects, let us conduct
ourselves with the dignity
and respect that Madiba
personified, he said.
Let us be mindful of his
wishes and the wishes of his
family as we gather wherever
we are in the country and
wherever we are in the world.
Let us recall the values for
which Madiba fought. Let us
reaffirm his vision of a society
in which none is exploited,
oppressed or dispossessed by
another.
He finished by saying simply:
We will always love you
Madiba. May your soul rest in
peace. God bless Africa.
Mr Mandela was the countrys
first black president and is
known throughout the world
for his anti-apartheid stance
and led the nations transition
from white-minority rule in the
1990s, after 27 years in prison.
The statesman had been
receiving care for a lung
infection at his home, where
hundreds last night gathered
ahead of rumours of ill-health
and where he was staying after
a three-month hospital stay.
President Michael D Higgins
said: Nelson Mandela is one of
historys greatest leaders; a man
whose unprecedented courage
and dedication broke down the
cruel barriers of apartheid in
South Africa and led the nation
into a new and democratic age.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
said: How blessed we have
been. He has become the most
admired statesman in the world,
an icon of forgiveness and
reconciliation, a moral colossus
... wonderful man, wonderful,
wonderful gift to us.
Since his hospital release, the
South African presidency
described Mr Mandelas
condition as critical but stable,
although rumours were this
week circulated that he was on
his death bed.
He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1993 and was
elected South Africas first black
president in 1994.
A UK politician whose family
fled South Africa because of
their support for Mr Mandelas
cause described the late great
former South African president
as the icon of all icons. Peter
Hain said there had long been a
bond between Wales and
Madiba and cited the
anti-apartheid demonstrations
against an all-white Springboks
rugby teams game in Swansea
in 1969.
The UN Security Council
was in session when the
ambassadors received the news
of Mandelas death. They
stopped their meeting and
stood for a minutes silence.
WORLD: 10&11
News 2-9; World 10&11; Editorial 12; Analysis 13; Arts 14; Life/Style 15; Business 16-18;
Money & Jobs 19-22; Sport 23-31; Classifieds 32; TV 33&34; Deaths 35