Chinese in Focus

新华网约翰内斯堡１２月５日电（记者于大波　张川石）南非总统祖马５日沉痛宣布，南非前总统曼德拉因病医治无效，于当地时间５日２０时５０分去世，享年９５岁。

祖马向全国发表电视讲话时说，曼德拉是在约翰内斯堡的家中去世的，他“走得很安详”。他去世时，家人都在他的身边。

祖马说：“我们民主国家的创始人曼德拉离开了我们。他现在安息了，我们国家失去了一个最伟大的儿子，我们的人民失去了一位父亲……这是我们最悲伤的时刻。”祖马说：“虽然我们知道这一天终将会到来，但我们仍然感到遭受了巨大和无法弥补的损失。”

祖马说，曼德拉为自由进行了不懈的斗争，赢得了全世界的尊重；他的谦逊、爱心和人道精神赢得了人们的爱戴。曼德拉的伟大之处在于他对人类的爱，他的品质正是我们所追求的。祖马呼吁南非人民继承曼德拉的遗志，建立一个没有剥削和压迫、没有种族和性别歧视、日益民主和繁荣的公正社会。

祖马宣布，南非将为曼德拉举行国葬。全国将从１２月６日起降半旗致哀，直至国葬结束。

曼德拉去世的消息传出后，大批民众涌向约翰内斯堡豪敦区的曼德拉住所，以表达哀思。３５岁的恩科马泣不成声地说：“曼德拉留给我们的精神财富不仅南非人民享用不尽，全世界人民也将从中获益。曼德拉没有走，他永远活在我们心中。”

曼德拉今年６月８日因肺部疾病复发被送往比勒陀利亚的一家医院，经过近３个月的治疗后于９月初出院，返回约翰内斯堡的家中继续接受治疗。　曼德拉曾因反对种族隔离制度入狱２７年，在狱中感染肺结核，出狱后致力于推动种族和解。１９９３年，他和南非种族隔离政权的最后一位总统德克勒克共获诺贝尔和平奖。１９９４年，曼德拉当选南非第一位黑人总统，５年后卸任。

 

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Former South African president Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95 Thursday, President Jacob Zuma announced in a televised speech to the nation.

"Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding President of our democratic nation has departed," Zuma said.

The president said that Mandela passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20:50 p.m. local time (1850 GMT) on Dec. 5.

"He is now resting. He is now at peace," Zuma said, "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."

"Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss," he said, "His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. "

"His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude."

Zuma said "This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son," adding "Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."

"As we gather to pay our last respects, let us conduct ourselves with the dignity and respect that Madiba personified," he said.

Zuma said that as people gather, wherever they are in the country and wherever they are in the world, they should recall the values for which Mandela fought.

"Let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another," he said.

He also urged South Africans to commit themselves to strive together - sparing neither strength nor courage - to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

Zuma also announced a state funeral for Mandela and ordered all national flags to be lowered to half-mast starting Dec. 6 until after the funeral.

Mandela, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, had battled health problems in recent months, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations.

Mandela was released from hospital in early September following an 85-day stay for a recurring lung infection, the result of his longtime imprisonment during the apartheid times.