‘Mandela opened his eyes, smiled after being told of Obama’s visit’

President Barack Obama’s imminent visit to South Africa excited ailing former President Nelson Mandela, his daughter said yesterday.

Zindzi Mandela said she said to her father: “Obama is coming. He opened his eyes and gave me a smile.”

She was speaking after relatives and chief members of Mandela’s clan gathered for a meeting at his rural home in Qunu, Eastern Cape province, yesterday morning.

Among those who arrived at the homestead were his grandson Mandla Mandela and other family members, Thanduxolo Mandela, Ndaba Mandela, and Ndileka Mandela.

A South Africa Press Association correspondent said the meeting followed an “urgent call” reportedly made by the former president’s children and quoted Napilisi Mandela, an elder in the Mandela family, as saying the meeting was being called “to discuss delicate matters.”

The 94-year-old remains in a critical condition, South Africa’s government said Tuesday as relatives gathered at his home for a family meeting that local media reports described as “urgent.”

The anti-apartheid campaigner and democracy icon has been in hospital with a lung infection since June 8. His condition was downgraded over the weekend from “serious but stable” to “critical.”

Obama is due to arrive Senegal this night, his first stop in a tour of Africa, before heading to South Africa on Friday.

Officials have said it is up to Mandela’s family to decide if the former leader is well enough to meet the president, and no meeting is scheduled.

United States Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said: “On the Mandela question, I should have added, we, of course, while we’re in South Africa, are going to be very deferential to the Mandela family in terms of any interaction that the President may have with the Mandela family or with Nelson Mandela.  Ultimately, we want whatever is in the best interest of his health and the peace of mind of the Mandela family.  And so we’ll be driven by their own determinations in that regard.

“We’ll be in touch with them.  The President wants to support them in any way.  He’s supporting them with his thoughts and prayers as it is.  And if he has an opportunity to see the family in some capacity, that’s certainly something that we may do.  And he’ll be going to Robben Island as well, which I think will be an important and powerful symbol at this time when the world has Nelson Mandela in their prayers.

“I would just add that the President has always seen Nelson Mandela as one of his personal heroes.  And he was honored — well, first of all, his first political activism, when he was in college, was driven by the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the inspiration of Nelson Mandela.  And carrying that forward, he was honored to meet him in Washington in 2005.  He was very moved that Nelson Mandela called him after the 2008 election and spoke to him several times in the years.

“The First Family… will visit Robben Island and have the opportunity to take in the remarkable history there and pay tribute to the extraordinary sacrifices made by Nelson Mandela in his pursuit of freedom for the people of South Africa as well as so many other figures in the anti-apartheid movement.”

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Mandela’s other daughter, Makaziwe, said she believed her father was “at peace with himself.”

Asked if the family should “let him go,” she said they wouldn’t because he had not asked them to.

Tuesday’s news of Mandela’s unchanged condition deepened the sense of gloom among a 50-strong crowd of well-wishers gathered outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela is being treated.

Mingling with television reporters, they strained to hear the details of reports on the health of a man they knows as “Tata Mandala” – Father Mandela.

The perimeter wall of the hospital is now plastered with goodwill messages. Early Tuesday, more than 100 white doves were released – a symbol of peace for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“It’s a mix of emotion, because he’s feeling pain. But on the other side we want him to survive”, said Nhlanhla Mhlong. “If he cannot survive then we want him to be released from the pain.”

It is a deeply painful time for those closest to Nelson Mandela.

Mac Maharaj was jailed alongside Mandela at Robben Island. Now, as one of the former leader’s official press spokesmen, he must field calls about his friend’s frail health.

“I have to make a conscious effort in this job to put aside my feelings,” Maharaj said.