Mandela on deathbed

For the former South African President and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, affectionately known in his country as Madiba, it is just “a matter of when” as he struggles with his life lying in what his family is now describing as his deathbed.

Yesterday one of Mzee Mandela’s daughter told South African Broadcasting Corporation that the ailing hero was in extremely serious condition. She used the word “deathbed” to describe the health situation of arguably Africa’s most enduring and famous freedom fighter.

Though Mandela’s family resorted to an unusual choice of words to describe his condition in an interview with SABC television news on Tuesday, reports from his home in Houghton in Johannesburg show that the South Africa’s first black president was in critical situation where anything can happen.

According to South Africa News Agency (SAPA), Mandela’s daughter Makaziwe, speaking off the cuff, told the broadcaster: “Tata is still with us. Very strong, as I said very courageous, even in (sic) ...lack of a better word, on his deathbed, I think he is still teaching us lessons. Lessons in patience, lessons in love, lessons in tolerance.

“Every moment, every minute with tata amazes me...There are times when I have to pinch myself that I come from this man who is so strong, who is a fighter. 

Even when there are moments when you can see he is struggling but the fighting spirit is still there with him,” she said.

Makaziwe spoke to the SABC following the launch of the Nelson Mandela Opus in Johannesburg. Mandela’s wife Graça Machel, his grandson Ndaba Mandela and other members of the family were also at the launch.

 “Not doing well,” Ndaba said, adding: “He is still with us, although he is not doing well at home in bed...However, we felt that we needed to do something special for him.”

Mzee Mandela spent almost three months in hospital after being admitted to the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in June with a recurring lung infection. 

Throughout his hospital stay, the presidency reported that he was in a critical but stable condition. The global icon was discharged in September and is receiving home-based medical treatment.

President Jacob Zuma visited the ailing freedom struggle icon at his Houghton home on November 18, after which his spokesperson, Mac Maharaj said: 

“The health of the former president remains much the same as it was when President Zuma last visited him, which is stable but critical, while Madiba continues to respond to treatment.”

But the question many ask especially in South Africa is what would be the medical condition of Mzee Mandela’s if he has to recover from the coma.

Will he be like former Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or he would return to his normal health? Will he be in vegetative conditions?

A vegetative state is a coma-like state characterised by open eyes and the appearance of wakefulness.

That state is a chronic or long-term condition; it differs from a persistent vegetative state (PVS, a state of coma that lacks both awareness and wakefulness) in which a patient can awaken from coma but without regaining awareness.

 Nelson Mandela