Portugal’s leaders have expressed their condolences on the death of former South African President and symbol of freedom, Nelson Mandela.
President Aníbal Cavaco Silva described Mandela as “South Africa’s greatest figure and of world history” in a message sent to Jacob Zuma – the current President of South Africa – whilst Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said Mandela “was an inspiring figure for future generations”.
The words appear in every headline across the world – freedom, hero, courage – followed by a name – Mandela.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president and the leader of the anti-apartheid movement, died peacefully in his family home in Johannesburg on Thursday. He was 95 years old.
His death was announced by the South African President, Jacob Zuma, at around 8.50pm local time. “We’ve lost our greatest son,” Zuma told waiting South Africans. Known affectionately as ‘Madiba’ in his home country, Nelson Mandela had been hospitalised several times over the past years, but had been treated at home, surrounded by his family, since September.
An anti-apartheid icon, a former leader of the National African Congress and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mandela spent 27 years in prison for opposing the racist apartheid regime. In 1994 – three years after his release from jail – he won the first free South African elections and became the country’s first black president. He is known across the world as a symbol of freedom, democracy and union.
Early this morning (December 6) Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a memorial service in Capetown where he urged South Africa to become as nation what Mandela had been as a man. The former South Africa president will receive a state funeral, with current president Jacob Zuma ordering the country’s flags to fly at half-mast.
