曼德拉之女講述父親臨終前的最後時刻

Nelson Mandela's daughter Makaziwe has told the BBC about the "wonderful" final hours of the former president, who died aged 95 last Thursday.

Ms Mandela said his wife Graca, the children and grandchildren were all there to say goodbye.

South Africa is observing a series of commemorations over the next week, leading up to the funeral on Sunday.

More than 100 current or former heads of state or government will attend the funeral or Tuesday's national memorial.

Makaziwe Mandela told the BBC's Komla Dumor: "Until the last moment he had us, you know... The children were there, the grandchildren were there, Graca was there, so we are always around him and even at the last moment, we were sitting with him on Thursday the whole day."

She said: "I think from last week, Friday until Thursday, it was a wonderful time, if you can say the process of death is wonderful. But Tata [Nelson Mandela] had a wonderful time, because we were there.

"When the doctors told us I think Thursday morning... that there was nothing that they could do, and said to me 'Maki call everybody that is here that wants to see him and say bye bye', it was a most wonderful day for us because the grandchildren were there, we were there."

Ms Mandela paid tribute to the doctors for the 24-hour care.

She said: "It was like there were soldiers guarding this period of the king - yes my father comes from royalty - without them knowing they were actually practising our rituals and culture, they were there in silence and when we as family members come in they would excuse themselves and just a few of them would be there to give us the time to be around my dad's bed."

Ms Mandela said that, for the past few months, she would tell her father that she loved him and that would see him again tomorrow.

"And maybe he would open his eyes for just a second and close those eyes," she said.

Ms Mandela said she believed her father had fought not just for political freedom but also for spiritual freedom.

"He talks about the fact that it takes courage to forgive. Forgiveness is a very difficult thing," she said.

"I think he knew that if he didn't forgive, he would be forever imprisoned spiritually. The lesson we can take from his life is to have the courage to forgive other people.

"None of us are born hating another - we are taught to hate and if you can teach a human being to hate you can also teach a human being to love, to embrace and to forgive."南非已故前總統納爾遜·曼德拉於2013年12月5日（星期四）逝世，享年95歲。其女馬卡茲維在接受英國廣播公司採訪時，談到了父親臨終前的“美好時刻”。

曼德拉女士稱，在父親逝世前，曼德拉的妻子格拉薩以及他的子孫們都陪伴在他身邊，直到最後時刻。

南非將在未來的一週內舉行各類紀念活動，12月15日（星期日）將舉行國葬，並將曼德拉先生的遺體安葬在他的家鄉古努鎮。

預計將有上百名各國現任及前任國家元首以及政府首腦出席曼德拉的葬禮。

馬卡茲維·曼德拉接受英國廣播公司採訪時說：“我們陪伴他直到生命的最後一刻……子孫們都陪伴在他身邊，格拉薩也在他身邊。即使在他生命的最後一刻，我們也一直坐在他身邊，和他共度了週四一整天的時光。”

她說：“在Tata（納爾遜·曼德拉）逝世的前一個星期，即從上週五開始一直到週四的時間裏，因爲有了我們的陪伴，父親度過了這段最後的‘美好時光’。”

“週四早上，醫生告訴我們他們已盡最大努力，並建議我‘電話通知大家見他最後一面，和他道別’。孫子們都來到了他的跟前，我們也在他周圍陪着他，那是美好的時刻。”

曼德拉女士感謝醫生對曼德拉24小時的照顧。

她說：“他們就像士兵一樣，守衛着這個時代的王者——是的，我的父親出身部落王室——也許他們不知道，他們正以實際行動踐行我們的儀式與文化傳統。在我們進來前，他們安靜地守衛在一旁；當看到作爲家屬的我們進來時，他們中的大部分人找藉口退了出去，僅留下小部分人守在房中，以便我們有更多時間陪在父親的病牀前。”

曼德拉女士說，在過去的幾個月中，她多希望每一天都和父親說，她深愛着他並希望第二天能再見到他。“即使他可以僅僅將眼睛睜開幾秒，然後再閉上雙眼，”

曼德拉女士說，她相信他的父親不僅爲政治自由而戰，也爲精神自由而戰。

“曼德拉曾說過，原諒需要勇氣；而饒恕更是一件非常困難的事情。”

在曼德拉女士看來，如果曼德拉不曾寬恕，他將永遠被禁錮於精神監獄之中。他用實際行動告訴我們，我們需要用勇氣其寬恕他人。

“沒有人生來就怨恨他人——既然我們是在成長中學會怨恨，那麼我們也能在人類成長的過程中教會他們如何去愛，去擁抱，去寬恕。”