Nelson Mandela in Critical Condition

Nelson Mandela, the first African President of South Africa, is in critical condition in a hospital in his ancestral home in Pretoria

Nelson Mandela,  the anti-apartheid leader of a revolutionary movement in South Africa that resisted through any means, the oppression of the apartheid system, a definatively cruel system of racial segregation–and went on to become the first African president of South Africa, is now in critical condition in a Pretoria hospital, his ancestral home.

According to media reports, President Jacob Zuma issued a statement indicating that Mandela’s condition became critical in the past 24 hours and has met with his wife, Graca Machel.

He is suffering from a persistent lung infection, that emanates from a tuberculosis infection that he contracted during his 27 years in prison.

He was freed  in 1990 by President F.W. de Klerk of the National Party, which enforced the apartheid system 1948 to 1994.  Mandela negotiated the first multi-racial elections with de Klerk and became President of South Africa as the leader of African National Congress in 1994.

Mandela stepped down in 1999,  serving only one-term, a rarity in African politics.

The image of Nelson Mandela is courtesy of Wikipedia.

Tanya L. Domi is the Deputy Editor of the New Civil Rights Movement.  She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and teaches human rights in East Central Europe and former Yugoslavia. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi was a nationally recognized LGBT civil rights activist who worked for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force during the campaign to lift the military ban in the early 1990s. Domi has also worked internationally in a dozen countries on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights and gender issues. She is chair of the board of directors for GetEQUAL. Domi is currently writing a book about the emerging LGBT human rights movement in the Western Balkans.