Wow, that's a contentious sentence to even type. It feels weird.
I'm not trying to purport any conspiracy theories. His body may be on machines; it's very possible, being kept alive on life support. But for all intents and purposes, he - the great architect of the rainbow nation - is gone.
I don't wish for anyone to die. But the fact is, he's human, he's 95 and he's a shell of the leader that he once was. The situation as it stands today is devastating, because he has been robbed of the dignity he exuded for decades, with his family bickering over and around his hospital bed, the world watching and praying for miracles for him to recover, and public leaders using his incapacity as a battering ram for any political standpoint they deem fit to manipulate.
I want to scream every time I hear someone calling for - and thanking the country for - prayers and good wishes for him to recover. I know they can't say anything otherwise, no one with any political consideration would stand up and call for his peaceful departure into the next world. That's as good as calling a witch-hunt on their own head.
But I just wish he could've received some peace at the end, without it turning into a soapie-drama. Inevitable and as unavoidable as the birth of the royal baby trending on Twitter for 24 hours before he even arrived, but still... I wonder how long it will be before they - the family, the president, the ANC - finally have to admit that he is gone.
And I wonder how it will be handled. Or received.
