Nelson Mandela family: ‘We have lost a great man’
In first statement since death Thursday, spokesman says spirit of late South African leader ‘still with us’
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A framed portrait of former president Nelson Mandela and flowers are placed outside Mandela's Johannesburg home Friday, December 6, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Denis Farrell)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In their first statement since his death, Nelson Mandela’s family says they’ve “lost a great man, a son of the soil.”
Lt. Gen. Temba Templeton Matanzima, a spokesman for the Mandela family, read the statement to journalists Saturday in Johannesburg.
The statement said: “The pillar of the royal Mandela family is no more with us physically, but his spirit is still with us.”
The statement went on: “We have lost a great man, a son of the soil whose greatness in our family was in the simplicity of his nature in our midst — a caring family leader who made time for all and on that score we will miss him dearly.”
Mandela died Thursday at age 95.
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