Nelson Mandela, born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, was a South African
politician. He died on December 6, 2013 at the age of 95.
Friends and family are mourning the loss of a loved one.
South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson
Mandela has died, South Africa's president says.
Mr Mandela, 95, led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in
the 1990s, after 27 years in prison.
He had been receiving intense home-based medical care for a lung
infection after three months in hospital.
In a statement on South African national TV, Mr Zuma said Mr Mandela
had "departed" and was at peace.
"Our nation has lost its greatest son," Mr Zuma said.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of the world's most revered
statesmen after preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27
years.
He had rarely been seen in public since officially retiring in 2004.
"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human.
We saw in him what we seek in ourselves," Mr Zuma said.
"Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is
together that we will bid him farewell."
UK Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to Mr Mandela, saying "a
great light has gone out in the world".
Earlier, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge, outside Mr Mandela's home in the
Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, said there appeared to have been an
unusually large family gathering.
Among those attending was family elder Bantu Holomisa,
A number of government vehicles were there during the evening as well,
our correspondent says.
Since he was released from hospital, the South African presidency
repeatedly described Mr Mandela's condition as critical but stable.
Born in 1918, Nelson Mandela joined the African National Congress
(ANC) in 1943, as a law student.
He and other ANC leaders campaigned against apartheid (white-only
rule).
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, but was released in 1990
as South Africa began to move away from strict racial segregation.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was elected South
Africa's first black president in 1994. He stepped down after five years in
office.
After leaving office, he became South Africa's highest-profile
ambassador, campaigning against HIV/Aids and helping to secure his
country's right to host the 2010 football World Cup.
He was also involved in peace negotiations in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Burundi and other countries in Africa and elsewhere
R.I.P to him ads
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