South Africa: Mandela "not good", but conscious as the king of Thembus

WORLD - "He could not speak, but he recognized me and made some gestures of recognition, like moving his eyes," he told the great traditional chief Dalindyebo ...


Nelson Mandela, who has been hospitalized for over a month is "clearly not good" but is aware, said Wednesday the Thembu king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, which includes the former South African president among his subjects. "It's going well," said the first king to AFP, before recovering ". Clearly, it is not going well"

King (great traditional chief) Dalindyebo visited Tuesday to Nelson Mandela, hospitalized since June 8 for recurrent pulmonary infection and considered in critical condition for more than fifteen days. It is placed on a respirator. "He could not speak, but he recognized me and made some gestures of recognition, like moving his eyes," he said. "Every time I spoke, he shook his head." "I could see that he was helped in many ways, he was intubated," he said.

"He has a lot of support"

Asked whether the great man could breathe on his own, the Thembu king replied: "He has a lot of assistance. (...) I'm sure that's what he needs. "The Thembus are a sub-group of the Xhosa tribe, from the south-east of South Africa. The Madiba clan, including Nelson Mandela is the most illustrious representative, is one. King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, a traditional high monarch color, has long been close to the ANC, anti-apartheid movement of Nelson Mandela in power since 1994.

It recently announced it would stop smoking dagga (grass) when President Jacob Zuma stop being corrupt, announcing that he had joined the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa. King Dalindyebo also announced that he wanted to deprive Mandla, the grand-son of the hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, which is a traditional chief of the village of Mvezo, where Nelson Mandela was born in 1918.

Mandla had Mvezo move the bodies of three children of Mandela in 2011, and was sued by five family members who were forced to make the body they are reburied in Qunu, the village where the great man wants to be buried. King even accused of wanting to Mandla family graves "a dance."

 Source 20 minutes With AFP