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Obama Meets With Mandela Family as Vigil Continues Obama Meets With Mandela Family as Vigil Continues
(about 1 hour later)
JOHANNESBURG — President Obama decided against a personal visit with Nelson Mandela, the ailing 94-year-old former president of South Africa, delivering his respects in a private meeting Saturday with Mandela’s family even as South Africans gathered at the Mr. Mandela’s home to express their emotional bond with him. JOHANNESBURG — The possibility of a meeting between the two historic figures — the first black president of the United States and the first black president of South Africa — was so tantalizingly close. But with Nelson Mandela fighting for his life in a Pretoria hospital, President Obama abandoned his hope for a visit and instead on Saturday used every stop here to talk in emotional and sweeping terms about what Mr. Mandela meant to the world, and to him.
The presidential limousine slipped past a gate at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Saturday afternoon, leaving the media behind as Mr. Obama met for about 25 minutes with Mr. Mandela’s relatives before heading to a town-hall-style meeting with students in Soweto. In statement after the meeting, Mr. Obama said he had also spoken by phone with Graça Machel, Mr. Mandela’s wife, who remained by his bedside. “I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones,” Mr. Obama said, using the clan name by which Mr. Mandela is widely known, after a meeting with some of Mr. Mandela’s children and grandchildren. “I also reaffirmed the profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world — including me. That’s a legacy that we must all honor in our own lives.”
“I expressed my hope that Madiba draws peace and comfort from the time that he is spending with loved ones,” Mr. Obama said, referring to Mr. Mandela by his clan name. “I also reaffirmed the profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world — including me. That’s a legacy that we must all honor in our own lives.” In an earlier news conference with South Africa’s current president, Jacob Zuma, he also spoke about one of Mr. Mandela’s greatest gifts: his ability to see beyond his own considerable legend.
The Centre of Memory will be the institution that seeks to keep Mr. Mandela’s legacy alive after he dies. The sleek glass-and-steel building lies just beside a roaring freeway in the upscale Houghton section of Johannesburg, not far from the home where Mr. Mandela lived after his release from 27 years in prison. “Despite how revered he was,” Mr. Obama said, Mr. Mandela understood that government must be “bigger than just one person, even one of the greatest people in history.What an incredible lesson that is.”
A steady stream of mostly white well-wishers gathered outside that home Saturday, leaving flowers or inscriptions on small colored rocks clustered under trees outside the closed gates. One note, left under a tree said: “Madiba, We drove across town without having to get permission. We live where we can, not where we are told to. All because of you and other heroes. Thank you, Lucien, Joelene, Ava and Luke.” Mr. Obama had built his Africa trip months ago on the hope of meeting with Mr. Mandela, whom he has called a personal inspiration. Like many South Africans, he was also eager to ensure that Mr. Mandela’s legacy will live on through younger generations. He brought his two daughters on the trip, even as many locals spent Saturday taking their own children to makeshift memorials outside the Pretoria hospital where Mr. Mandela, 94, lay in critical condition and the Johannesburg home where he lived much of his time after his release from 27 years in apartheid prisons.
Mrs. Machel, making a rare public appearance since Mr. Mandela’s latest bout of illness, emerged from her vehicle to thank a small group clustered outside the gate. Herschelle Sigudla went to the hospital on a brilliantly sunny South African winter morning with his wife and two teenagers to pay their respects.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said, flanked by security guards, before getting back into her car and driving off. “All these messages you are compiling, it means so much to us. Every day he is getting well. So you should know that the message is getting across. Thank you so much.” “We were in university during the struggle,” said Mr. Sigudla, 43, a physiotherapist, referring to himself and his wife, Pinky, 39, a radiologist. “He inspired us to look forward to the new South Africa.”
White House officials said the decision not to bring Mr. Obama and his entourage to Mr. Mandela’s bedside at a hospital in the capital, Pretoria, was made “out of deference to Nelson Mandela’s peace and comfort and the family’s wishes.” The White House had originally hoped to spotlight the two men together, offering a generational tableau of the first black leaders in both countries. Mr. Obama said as he flew to South Africa on Friday that he did not need “a photo-op” while he is in the country. Mr. Sigudla and his family sparkled with the confidence and prosperity of the new South Africa’s affluent, well-educated black middle class. With his arms around them, he said: “We wanted to be here for our kids as well. This is history. One day they will learn it in school, and we want them to be able to say, ‘We were there.’ ”
Mr. Mandela has been ill since being admitted to the hospital three weeks ago for a chronic lung infection. His condition turned critical, according to South African officials, just as Mr. Obama headed toward the African continent for a weeklong trip. Mr. Obama praised Mr. Mandela as “one of the greatest people in history,” and hailed South Africa’s historic integration from white racist rule as a shining beacon for the world.
Mr. Obama still plans to salute Mr. Mandela’s life with a visit on Sunday to Robben Island, the prison where Mr. Mandela spent 18 years in a tiny cell. “The struggle here against apartheid for freedom, Madiba’s moral courage, this country’s historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me, it has been an inspiration to the world,” he said.
Earlier, at a news conference with Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, Mr. Obama encouraged world leaders to follow Mr. Mandela’s example of putting country ahead of self. “We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily, and we don’t get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn’t depend on how long we stay in office,” Mr. Obama said. The meeting with Mr. Mandela’s family replaced the meeting with Mr. Mandela himself, and was arranged according to the family’s wishes, the White House said.
Mr. Obama also praised South Africa’s struggle for freedom and Mr. Mandela’s “moral courage,” which he said has been an “inspiration for the world.” He noted that he had visited Robben Island several years ago as a senator. He said he looked forward to taking his two daughters to the tiny prison cell to “teach them the history of that place and this country, and to help them understand not only how those lessons apply to their own lives,” but also more broadly. On Saturday afternoon, the presidential limousine slipped past a gate at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, leaving reporters behind for the 25-minute meeting before Mr. Obama headed to a town-hall-style meeting with students in Soweto. In a statement after the meeting, Mr. Obama said he had also spoken by phone with Graça Machel, Mr. Mandela’s wife, who has been spending most of her time at her husband’s bedside.
Mr. Obama began his first full day in South Africa in a private meeting with Mr. Zuma, who noted that the talks took place “against the background of the ill health of our beloved former president.” Mr. Zuma noted the symbolism the moment, saying that Mr. Obama and Mr. Mandela are “bound by history as the first black presidents of your countries.” The Centre of Memory will be the institution that seeks to keep Mr. Mandela’s legacy alive after he dies. The sleek glass-and-steel building lies just beside a roaring freeway in the upscale Houghton section of Johannesburg, not far from Mr. Mandela’s Johannesburg home.
Afterward, Mr. Obama told reporters from both countries that his top priority for the African continent was to help the governments here to establish more stable and transparent democracies and to promote greater trade and investment that will help life the economies of both places. A steady stream of mostly white well-wishers gathered outside that home Saturday, leaving flowers or inscriptions on small colored rocks clustered under trees outside the closed gates. One note, left under a tree, said: “Madiba, we drove across town without having to get permission. We live where we can, not where we are told to. All because of you and other heroes. Thank you, Lucien, Joelene, Ava and Luke.”
“I’m here in Africa because I think the United States needs to engage in a continent full of promise and possibility,” Mr. Obama said, dismissing a question about whether America had fallen behind China and other countries. “I think it’s good for the United States, whatever others do.” Ms. Machel, making a rare public appearance since Mr. Mandela’s latest bout of illness, emerged from her vehicle to thank a small group clustered outside the gate.
Speaking of Mr. Mandela in the past tense, Mr. Obama said the legacy of Mr. Mandela would be to inspire other countries to reach beyond their internal disputes and crises to seize opportunity. “I just wanted to say thank you,” she said, accompanied by security guards, before getting back into her car and driving off. “All these messages you are compiling, it means so much to us. Every day he is getting well. So you should know that the message is getting across. Thank you so much.”
Mr. Mandela has been ill since being admitted to the hospital three weeks ago for a chronic lung infection. His condition turned critical, according to South African officials, just as Mr. Obama headed to Africa for a weeklong trip.
The American president still plans to salute Mr. Mandela’s life with a visit on Sunday to Robben Island, the prison where Mr. Mandela spent most of his incarceration. White House officials said Friday night that there was no change in the schedule, though Mr. Obama promised to “gauge the situation” based on Mr. Mandela’s condition and his family’s wishes.
Mr. Obama noted that he had visited Robben Island as a senator. He said he looked forward to taking his two daughters to Mr. Mandela’s tiny prison cell to “teach them the history of that place and this country, and to help them understand not only how those lessons apply to their own lives,” but also more broadly.
Mr. Obama began his first full day in South Africa in a privatemeeting with Mr. Zuma, who noted that the talks had taken place “against the background of the ill health of our beloved former president.” Mr. Zuma pointed to the symbolism, saying Mr. Obama and Mr. Mandela are “bound by history as the first black presidents of your countries.”
Afterward, Mr. Obama told reporters from both countries that his top priority for Africa was to help the governments here to establish more stable and transparent democracies and to promote greater trade and investment that will help life the economies of both places.
“I’m here in Africa because I think the United States needs to engage in a continent full of promise and possibility,” Mr. Obama said, dismissing a question about whether America has fallen behind China and other countries in outreach to Africa. “I think it’s good for the United States, whatever others do.”
Mr. Obama said the legacy of the former South African president would be to inspire other countries to reach beyond their internal disputes and crises to seize opportunity.
“Nelson Mandela showed what is possible and the people of South Africa have shown what’s possible when a priority is placed on constitutions and rule of law and respect for human dignity and that all people are treated equal,” Mr. Obama said.“Nelson Mandela showed what is possible and the people of South Africa have shown what’s possible when a priority is placed on constitutions and rule of law and respect for human dignity and that all people are treated equal,” Mr. Obama said.
He added that Mr. Mandela, “despite how revered he was,” understood that government must be “bigger than just one person, even one of the greatest people in history. What an incredible lesson that is.”
Outside Mr. Mandela’s house, South Africans were also discussing what might happen after his death. “According to a lot of black people I spoke to through my staff, they all fear an eruption of violence,” said Laurence Hodes, who lives in the same neighborhood and had come with two of her children. “But I don’t think so. This is history.”Outside Mr. Mandela’s house, South Africans were also discussing what might happen after his death. “According to a lot of black people I spoke to through my staff, they all fear an eruption of violence,” said Laurence Hodes, who lives in the same neighborhood and had come with two of her children. “But I don’t think so. This is history.”
For others the visit was an emotional experience. Diana Anderson, a local resident, arrived with her two young children, one of whom peppered her with questions as they read the cards stacked under a tree.For others the visit was an emotional experience. Diana Anderson, a local resident, arrived with her two young children, one of whom peppered her with questions as they read the cards stacked under a tree.
“Yes, he’s still at the doctor’s. He’s not feeling well,” Ms. Anderson told her 2-year-old son, Rupert, as he held his hand. “Yes, he’s still at the doctors. He’s not feeling well,” Ms. Anderson told her two-year-old son, Rupert, as she held his hand.
“Why?” asked her son.“Why?” asked her son.
Ms. Anderson wiped away tears as she carried her children back to her vehicle. “It feels like he’s dead already,” she said. “Which is terrible.”Ms. Anderson wiped away tears as she carried her children back to her vehicle. “It feels like he’s dead already,” she said. “Which is terrible.”

Michael D. Shear reported from Johannesburg, and Rick Lyman from Soweto, South Africa. Declan Walsh contributed reporting from Johannesburg, and Marcus Mabry from Pretoria, South Africa.