The first black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela is dead. The anti-apartheid icon passed on after battling with prostate cancer for about 12 years.
South African President Jacob Zuma, formally announced the death of 95-year-old who had been on intense care after spending three months in hospital for lung infection.
“Our nation has lost its greatest son. What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.
“Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell.” President Zuma announced on a South African National Television.
Born in the Eastern Cape in 1918, Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1943 and his activities later led him to prison for 27 years.
In 1990, he was freed from prison, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and elected first black President in 1994.
In 1999, Mandela stepped down as leader and retired from public life in 2004.
