I really felt sad for Mandela when i read these new…he buried his last son…What a great person he is…he spent 28 years of his life in jail for his people…28 years…
Mandela Buries His Son
2:21 pm PST, 15 January 2005
A frail Nelson Mandela has buried his last son in a remote South African field wearing a red AIDS ribbon to symbolise the fight against the disease that killed him a week ago.
Thousands of people, including South Africa’s political elite, gathered near Mr Mandela’s childhood home in Qunu, where family members held a vigil overnight for his son Makgatho, who was 54.
The 86-year-old anti-apartheid icon was holding a cane and supported by his wife Graca Machel.
He looked pained as he walked slowly to drop a yellow rose and handful of earth into the grave.
Makgatho was buried near his mother, brother and sister.
I feel sad, but rather I am very proud of the family. They are the first political family to state that their son died of AIDS. Now talk about a family man with some backbone. A taboo subject in a country riddled with the plague and he has the courage to state it and make it public knowledge.
This son's wife had also died last year from AIDS. At that time the official version was that she died from Pneumonia. It is indeed brave for the family to embrace the truth and be honest.
Mandela is an honorable man and led South Africa at a critical time in their history. He is the one man who kept the country together and united it after the apartheid regime fell. In this day and age, most nations need leaders of his calibre.