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5 December 2013updated 27 Sep 2015 5:32am

Nelson Mandela dies aged 95

The former South African leader has died, president Jacob Zuma has announced.

By Helen Lewis

Nelson Mandela has died aged 95, it has been announced. 

He had been treated at home for a lung infection in recent weeks, after spending three months in hospital. 

The announcement was made by South African president Jacob Zuma, who said that “what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves. Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell.”

From the New Statesman‘s archives:

John Pilger, 2013: Mandela’s greatness is assured, but not his legacy

Hedley Twidle, 2013: The last days of Nelson Mandela

Mamphela Ramphele: “Mandela said: never accept anyone telling you one sole organisation is the author of this freedom”

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