Nelson Mandela's friends lament his decline

July 11, 2013 22:03

Ahmed Kathrada, a warhorse of the anti-apartheid struggle, was allowed just a few minutes at the hospital bedside of his critically ill comrade, Nelson Mandela.

It was, he said, a traumatic experience to see the former president, physically robust during their prison years together, in such a fragile state.

Mandela could not speak but his face "changed" and he recognized his visitor "through his eyes," Kathrada said of the July 1 encounter, which was overseen protectively by Mandela's wife, Graca Machel.

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