Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon and father of modern South Africa, dies

CNN ^ | 12-05-2013 | By Faith Karimi

[Red Badger]

Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, South African President Jacob Zuma announced late Thursday.

Mandela was 95.

"He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."

"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," the president said in his late-night address. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."

Mandela will have a state funeral. Zuma ordered all flags in the nation to be flown at half-staff from Friday through that funeral.

Mandela, a former president, battled health issues in recent months, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations.

With advancing age and bouts of illness, Mandela retreated to a quiet life at his boyhood home in the nation's Eastern Cape Province, where he said he was most at peace.

Despite rare public appearances, he held a special place in the consciousness of the nation and the world.

[Red Badger]

Read the comments. They are going to be very interesting. The mods at CNN.com will be very busy for awhile...............

[tumblindice]

Has he been staked? Is he completely dead?

[SkyDancer]

Yet again. He’s got nothing on Lazarus.

[clintonh8r]

Stand by to be deleted.....

[GeronL]

unrepentant terrorist

[svcw]

His family will probably miss him.

[max americana]

YAY!

[Red Badger]

Most dearly and sincerely dead.............

[fatnotlazy]

Lucky for him he didn't have Obamacare or he would have been dead long before today.

[a fool in paradise]

Eternally with Momar Gadaffi and Yasir Arafathead I suppose.

May Fidel Castro join them all soon.

[Democrat_media]

ditto that

[a fool in paradise]

Can we get Fidel Castro on Obamacare?

[billyboy15]

So then, since Mandela had the whites thrown out of SA, how have things gone for the blacks?

Just askin’

[Red Badger]

Two down, one to go.........................

[Calvin Locke]

Has he been staked?

I thought "necklacing" was what they did in Mandela's SA?

[Foundahardheadedwoman]

Been saying I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but then again.....

[Red Badger]

I don’t think even old Fidel would want that!..................

[refermech]

Had the potential to do great things but got dragged down by the black vitriol and his wife winnie was a real piece of work.

[rockrr]

Beelzebub “I never met a terrorist I didn’t like” Øbozo must be inconsolable.

[tumblindice]

How do we know he won’t rise up and try to eat the guts of the living?
To be safe someone should pith him or put a round in his ear.