Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, 94, released from hospital in South Africa
(Photo: Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released from a hospital in Pretoria on Wednesday evening, a government spokesman told NBC News.
Can we just ponder on the fact that Nelson Mandela has managed to live 94 years despite all the stuff he had to battle against to become this universally-regarded elder statesman? It’s pretty impressive.
Nelson Mandela spends second day in hospital: “He has not been talking … he is not looking good. It’s clear that something is troubling him,” one source close to the 94-year-old South African icon told The Sunday Times, a South African newspaper. Despite this, the government has continued to reassure the public about his health. (Reuters photo)
In a hastily arranged news conference Sunday, officials from the National Prosecuting Authority said that they would await the outcome of further investigations into the shootings, but did not rule out bringing murder charges again.
“Final charges will only be made once all investigations have been completed. The murder charges against the current 270 suspects will be formally withdrawn provisionally in court,” said Nomgcobo Jiba, the acting national director of prosecutions, told reporters.
Prosecutors also said they had not ruled out charges against the police.
“The actions of the police will be sorted out still,” said Johan Smit, a provincial prosecutor in the region where the strike took place told reporters. “We’re not ignoring that.”
270 miners were recently charged en masse by prosecutors using a mechanism, “common purpose,” which was common during the Apartheid era and allowed prosecutors to charge an entire crowd for the crimes of just a few people.
May 10, 1994: Nelson Mandela Becomes President of South Africa
On this day in 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president. Mandela had spent 27 years imprisoned for working in the anti-apartheid movement.
FRONTLINE’s “The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela” site takes an inside look at his childhood, revolutionary years, imprisonment, and personal life.
The journey of one of the world’s great elder statesmen.
Let’s celebrate Nelson Mandela’s birthday: New rule: If you live until 93 and become the catalyst for the end of Apartheid, you automatically get a giant cake like this one. (AP Photo)
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