Obama To meet ailing Mandelas family

US President Barack Obama
Saturday decided not to visit his political
hero Nelson Mandela in hospital to
preserve the “peace and comfort” of the
anti-apartheid legend, whose family he will
meet to offer prayers instead.

The US leader will hold up Mandela’s
unifying legacy as an example to an
emerging continent, even as the plight of
the father of multi-racial South Africa
added poignancy and a delicate political
dimension to his visit.

“The President and First Lady will meet
privately with members of the Mandela
family to offer their thoughts and prayers
at this difficult time,” a US official said, as
Obama arrived in Pretoria for talks with
South African President Jacob Zuma in the
middle leg of a three-nation swing.

“Out of deference to Nelson Mandela’s
peace and comfort and the family’s wishes,
they will not be visiting the hospital,” the
official said on condition of anonymity.

Obama said Friday he did not need a
photo-op with Mandela, who he meet
briefly in 2005, but aides did not
definitively rule out a visit to the hospital
before he arrived in Johannesburg on
Friday night.
Mandela’s condition presented Obama with
a delicate political challenge.
He must balance a desire to honour
Mandela, in perhaps his final days, with a
message that the United States wants to
play a key diplomatic and economic role in
a region on the rise.
Obama’s helicopter swept low over the
Pretoria hills to land in front of the
imposing sandstone Union Buildings, the
seat of South Africa’s government, for talks
and a press conference with Zuma.
Later, he will head to Soweto, the sprawling
township where riots sparked a
nationwide struggle against the racist
apartheid regime, while Mandela and fellow
African National Congress leaders were in
prison.
The US leader will hold a town hall style
meeting with young leaders from all over
Africa, driving home his theme that it is
time for a new generation to guide the
continent into a new era of democracy and
prosperity.
Supporters have been gathering outside
the Pretoria hospital to offer prayers for
the man who negotiated an end to decades
of white minority rule and a wall of
handwritten prayers for Mandela’s
recovery has become the focal point for
South Africans paying tribute to the father
of their nation, with singing and dancing
by day and candlelight vigils at night.
Tokozile Sibalo, 50, a receptionist in an
internet company came with her
daughters, 20 and 12.
“I’m here this morning to give my prayers.
It’s important because Mandela is so
important to us South Africans and
Africans,” she said.
Before the White House announced
Obama’s decision, she said she hoped the
president would visit Mandela in hospital.
“They share the same thing. Mandela has
been the first black president in South
Africa and Obama has been the first black
president in America.”
“It will also lift up Mandela to see that
Obama thinks about Africa”, she said.
A visit by Obama to Mandela’s former jail
cell on Robben Island, off Cape Town, on

Mandela has been hospitalised four times
since December, mostly for a stubborn lung
infection.

Mandela may be out of sight, but his
influence is palpable on Obama’s tour of
Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

A public meeting between the first black
presidents of the United States and South
Africa, who in their own way both
shattered racial barriers had long been
anticipated, but Obama was unable to visit
South Africa in his first term, before
Mandela’s decline accelerated.
Instead, Obama will hold up Mandela’s
legacy Saturday as an example for African
leaders as they seek to lift the continent
from a challenging past to a more
prosperous and peaceful future.

“The message will be consistent because it
draws on the lessons of Nelson Mandela’s
own life,” Obama told reporters on Friday.

“If we focus on what Africa as a continent
can do together and what these countries
can do when they’re unified, as opposed to
when they’re divided by tribe or race or
religion, then Africa’s rise will continue.

“That’s one of the central lessons of what
Nelson Mandela accomplished not just as
president, but in the struggle to overcome
apartheid and his years in prison.”

Fears for Mandela’s health have eased
slightly, as the 94-year-old’s ex-wife
Winnie said Friday there had been a “great
improvement” though he was still said to
be in a critical condition.

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