our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the people of south africa, all of us are living in a better world because of the life of madiba, the life that he lived. that was a clan name, his traditional name. he proved there was freedom in forgiving, that a big heart is better than a closed mind and that life s real victories must be shared. donna, donna brazile is here, nelson mandela, the civil rights movement in the united states, what was going on in south africa, you and i are old enough to remember those days, the role and as christiane accurately points out, that all of us played in trying to move south africa in a better direction. you remember those days very vividly. well, the apartheid regime was a brutal regime. it was a violent regime. and the goal of folks in america, especially young people, was to educate, was to mobilize and to get more sanctions, to get corporations
seriously. i m staying in argentina where she s the ambassador. exactly two weeks ago she texted me and said, just to let you know, i m flying back which was her awway of saying it s very serious. the fact he said it. and again, last week or so, a very close friend of mandela s said, let him go. and what he really meant is spiritually. can the family let him go to release him physically? there s several references. the clan name. tata is father. one who shakes the tree. and he certainly has shaken the tree and positively impacted many people s lives. keep us posted. prayers going out for the former president mandela. everyone is hoping that he does well or at least recovers but this information certainly very serious. appreciate it. all right. now our other breaking news, all
the doctors robert that his condition is serious, but that he s stable. reporter: nelson mandela s lungs have been weak since suffering tuberculosis while a political prisoner. his strength helped bring about the transformation of his country, ending the oppressant apartheid sha ream. but she 94 now and his nation worries, concern for the father of modern south africa. a man they affectionately call by his clan name, madeba. reporter: the president s office attempting to reassure. he s a fighter, and at his age, as long as he s fighting, he ll be fine. reporter: nelson mandela faurt for freedom and democracy to end the oppression of his people. now he faces a different fight. this is a time where s we need to hold hands and pray for the elderly statesman. reporter: with so many around the world praying for him.
around the world. it s the first time during these i willnesses that the presidency of south africa, jacob zuma s office issued a statement which many people see has seen significant and he has asked people to pray for mandela s health. he used the affectionate term for the man, the great leader, his clan name. we ll keep you posted, alisyn. we re not expecting to have updates on the hour on his condition but the authorities have said they will let us know if it gets better or worse. so we will keep you posted on that. alisyn: please do. we will be thinking of him. thanks so much, amy kellogg. bill: age 94. what a great life. alisyn: he is such a sweet man that i had a chance to meet in 1990. it was highlight of my career. sweet man. bill: eye-opening look at the effects of smoking told through the stories of peoples whose lives have been changed forever. we ll talk to the director of the cdc about its new anti-smoking campaign coming up.
people here in south africa unfortunately expecting the worse. there s headlines like this saying prayers for madiba. he is mandela s clan name. another one, madiba, country holds its breath. i think the whole country tunes in to the acting president and the surgeon general of the army and really a very keen to know exactly what kind of information they re going to tell the nation in just, you know, under 20 minutes time. this stage, before the press conference, what do we know about what s wrong with him? reporter: okay. what do we know? nothing officially, zain. i mean, literally no official statements until very early this morning by the deputy president. hinting at respiratory issues. the rest, you know, we know a lot of journalists staying far away from rumors or speculation or conjecture because the fact