The former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (95) passed away last night.  He passed away peacefully at 20:50 (local time) on December 5 as the President of South Africa announced.

South African President Jacob Zuma announced the death of Nelson Mandela on the national television, “Fellow South Africans, our beloved...the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed.  He is now resting. He is now at peace...Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.”

Mandela had been fighting for life for the last few months.  Lung infection led to many other complications.  After treatment in a private hospital he was shifted to home treatment for the last three months.  

Mandela who fought against racism in South Africa was highly respected by the people all over the world.  He was imprisoned for 27 years but he pardoned them all after he was released finally in 1990.  After that, he became the first elected black President of South Africa.  Although Mandela had been facing health problem since, the longest hospitalization is the recent one before his death.

All his friends and relatives are visiting his Johannesburg residence where he is placed on the death bed.  

US President Obama stated “I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandela’s life. My very first political action -- the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics was a protest against apartheid.  -- I would study his words and his writings. The day he was released from prison it gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears. Like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set. And so long as I live, I will do what I can to learn from him.”

-SriJa