This is Plymouth -- Plymouth has begun to pay tribute to the first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, after the anti-apartheid icon's death was announced. Mr Mandela, 95, took his country out of white-minority rule in the 90s, after spending three decades in prison. Over the last few months he had been having medical treatment at home for a lung infection. Current president of South Africa Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela had "departed" and was at peace. He said: "Our nation has lost its greatest son." Leader of Plymouth City Council Tudor Evans said: "I'm mourning for a hero of mine." Recalling Nelson Mandela's release and his London rally in 1990, he said: "I remember that walk to freedom as if it were yesterday. Incredible moment. Wembley Stadium too, it was the biggest rally I'd ever been to." Plymouth Labour politician Luke Pollard said: "Nelson Mandela was a towering figure, not just for South Africa but for all those who love freedom. Incredible figure." Plymouth Councillor Chaz Singh tweeted: "Nelson Mandela, RIP." Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston said: "Nelson Mandela; your courage, dignity and forgiveness made the world a better place. Thank you." Plymouth Labour councillor Kate Taylor said: ""Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement." Rest in peace, Nelson Mandela." Also sharing a quote, Plymouth diver Sarah Barrow said: ""It always seems impossible, until it is done" RIP Nelson Mandela." Herald political reporter Keith Rossiter said: "Sad day as Nelson Mandela dies. One of the few really great people. RIP Madiba" Herald business editor William Telford said: "Mandela's story taught me this: tyranny can't withstand popular opposition; bitterness is futile; don't give up; you're never too old." Herald education reporter Claire Jones said: "Nelson Mandela, promoted to glory. A giant amongst men who left behind an incredible legacy. What a life to live." Gavin Marshall of Plymouth Pavilions said he stood with friends to raise a toast to Nelson Mandela tonight, he said: "Stood with friends to toast and give thanks for Nelson Mandela. Never ever felt the need to do that for any person in public life before." Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time. I've asked for the flag at No10 to be flown at half mast." Opposition leader Ed Miliband tweeted: "The world has lost the global hero of our age. Nelson Mandela showed us the true meaning of courage, hope, and reconciliation." Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended the Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner nationalists of the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he promulgated a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Continuing the former government's liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Right-wing critics denounced him as a terrorist and communist sympathiser. He nevertheless gained international acclaim for his anti-colonial and anti-apartheid stance, having received more than 250 honours, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Order of Lenin. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"); he is often described as "the father of the nation". Mandela died following a long illness on 5 December 2013 at his home in Johannesburg. *FULL TEXT OF THE ADDRESS BY JACOB ZUMA* South African president Jacob Zuma told the world that Nelson Mandela "has departed". Here is the full text of his address: "My fellow South Africans, our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation has departed. "He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20.50 on December 5 2013. "He is now resting. He is now at peace. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. "Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. "His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. "His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude. "They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free. "Our thoughts are with his wife Mrs Graca Machel, his former wife Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with his children, his grandchildren, his great grandchildren and the entire family. "Our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside Madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle. "Our thoughts are with the South African people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood. "Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause. "This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. "Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves. "And in him we saw so much of ourselves. "Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together, and it is together that we will bid him farewell. "Our beloved Madiba will be accorded a state funeral. "I have ordered that all flags of the Republic of South Africa be lowered to half-mast from tomorrow, December 6, and to remain at half-mast until after the funeral. "As we gather to pay our last respects, let us conduct ourselves with the dignity and respect that Madiba personified. "Let us be mindful of his wishes and the wishes of his family. "As we gather, wherever we are in the country and wherever we are in the world, let us recall the values for which Madiba fought. "Let us reaffirm his vision of a society in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another. "Let us commit ourselves to strive together - sparing neither strength nor courage - to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. "Let us express, each in our own way, the deep gratitude we feel for a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity. "This is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow. "Yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination. "A determination to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realised his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world. "We will always love you, Madiba! "May your soul rest in peace. "God Bless Africa. "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika." *THE MAN WHO SAVED SOUTH AFRICA* Nelson Mandela was the glowing beacon of hope, shining across South Africa and the world, whose 27 years in jail left him without a trace of bitterness or hatred against those who practised the evil of apartheid. From his prison cell the man who was to become president of his beloved South Africa did more than any person alive to end this scourge and to bring about black majority rule in his country. It was Mr Mandela, even through his long and lonely incarceration, whose sheer, unwavering resolve to end the iniquities in South Africa assuaged the despair of millions of blacks who existed under the tyranny of apartheid. Never did he compromise his inflexible principles, which provided a source of great strength to fellow prisoners. More than once he rejected offers of freedom with strings attached. Only a free man can negotiate, he said. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts. Mr Mandela was finally released by President FW de Klerk on Sunday February 11 1990, sometime after the then president had lifted the ban on the African National Congress. It was soon after his release that Mr Mandela and his delegation formally agreed to the end of the armed struggle. Four years later, on May 10 1994, Mr Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically-elected president of South Africa, a post he held until June 1999, when he formally retired from public life. Even then, he spent much of his time travelling the world, meeting foreign statesmen and being hailed, wherever he went, as a remarkable man who never demonstrated even a trace of rancour and vindictiveness towards those who maintained the tyrannical regime and who threw him into prison. His appeals for peace and harmony, not simply in the formerly race-ridden state of South Africa, but throughout the world, including, and especially, the Middle East, were often more effective than those issued even from the White House. He was revered worldwide as a man of peace and forgiveness, a man who did not know the meaning of the word "malice". Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18 1918 in a village near Umtata in the Transkei. He was given the name Nelson by a teacher at his school. His father, a counsellor to the Thembu royal family, died when Nelson was nine, and he was placed in the care of the acting regent of the Thembu people. He joined the African National Congress in 1943, first as an activist, then as the founder and president of the ANC Youth League. Mandela married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, in 1944. They divorced in 1957, after having three children. He qualified as a lawyer and, in 1952, opened a law practice in Johannesburg with his partner, Oliver Tambo. Together, Mr Mandela and Mr Tambo campaigned against apartheid. In 1956, Mandela was charged with high treason, with 155 other activists. But the charges against him were dropped after a four-year trial. The resistance to apartheid grew, mainly against the new pass laws, which dictated where blacks were allowed to live and work. In 1958, he married Winnie Madikizela, who later played an active role, both politically and in the campaign – which eventually became worldwide – to free her husband from prison. Two years later, the ANC was outlawed and Mr Mandela went underground. Tension with the apologists for apartheid soared to new heights when, in 1960, 69 black people were shot dead by police in the Sharpeville massacre. This signalled the end of peaceful resistance. Mr Mandela, who was already by then national vice-president of the ANC, launched a campaign of sabotage against the South African economy. With the banning of the ANC, he was detained until 1961 when he went underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention. Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was born the same year. Under his leadership, it launched that campaign against the Government and economic installations. In 1962, Mr Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK leaders. On his return, he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his own defence and used the stand at this and a subsequent trial for treason to convey his beliefs about equality, democracy and freedom. He said: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Mr Mandela, however, was convicted and jailed for five years. While serving that sentence he was charged in the winter of 1964 with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the 12 months between 1968 and 1969, Mr Mandela's mother died and his eldest son was killed in a car crash, but he was not allowed to attend their funerals. He remained in prison on the notorious Robben Island for 18 years before being transferred to Polismoor Prison on the mainland in 1982. In prison, Mr Mandela never compromised his political principles. During the 1970s, he refused the offer of remission of sentence if he recognised Transkei and settled there. In the following decade, he again rejected president PW Botha's offer of freedom if he renounced violence. But, as he and other ANC leaders languished in prison or lived in exile, South African black township children helped to sustain the resistance. Hundreds were killed and thousands injured before the schoolchildren's uprising was crushed. Meanwhile, in 1980, his great friend Mr Tambo, who was in exile, launched an international campaign for his release. As he did so, the world community tightened the sanctions first imposed on South Africa in 1967 against the apartheid regime. This pressure produced results. President de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and Mr Mandela was released, amid jubilation, from prison. Within days, the ANC and the National Party began talks about forming a new multi-racial democracy for South Africa. However, violent clashes broke out between supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a Zulu group led by Chief Buthelezi and ANC supporters. Despite attempts to resolve the problems through talks, the violence escalated and the Inkatha targeted ANC strongholds with support from the white police force. Relations grew tense as the violence persisted, but the two leaders – President de Klerk and Mr Mandela – met sporadically in an attempt to stop the bloodshed. In 1992, Mr Mandela divorced his wife Winnie, after she was convicted on charges of kidnapping and accessory to assault. In December the following year, Mr Mandela and Mr de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr Mandela said it was an accolade to all people who had worked for peace and stood against racism. Five months later, for the first time in South Africa's history, all races voted in democratic elections. Mr Mandela was elected President, in scenes of joy, with the ANC winning 252 of the 400 seats in the national assembly. His greatest problem was the housing shortage for the poor and the slum townships blighting the major cities. He entrusted his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, with the day-to-day business of the Government, while he concentrated on the ceremonial duties of a leader, building a new, international image of South Africa. In that context, he persuaded the country's multinational corporations to remain and invest in South Africa. Mr Mandela gave up the presidency of the ANC in December 1997 in favour of Mr Mbeki. He stepped down as president of the country after the ANC's landslide victory in the summer of 1999, again for Mr Mbeki. Subsequently, he married Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique. In January 2005, he suffered a personal tragedy when his eldest son, lawyer Makgatho Mandela, 54, died of Aids-related complications. His father said the only way to fight the disease's stigma was to speak openly about it. Even in "retirement", Mr Mandela did not remain silent. He accused the United Kingdom and the United States of encouraging international chaos by ignoring other countries and assuming the role of "policemen of the world". He also openly criticised Washington and London for taking military action in Iraq and Kosovo without seeking permission from the United Nations Security Council. But as the years progressed, his ailing health saw him retreat from public life. In 2008, he made a rare visit to the UK to attend a concert marking his 90th birthday. The following year, the United Nations declared July 18 Mandela Day, in recognition of his birthday. But a family bereavement and increased fragility meant that he maintained a low profile at football's World Cup 2010 in South Africa, only briefly appearing at the finale. It was an event that the former president had lobbied for on behalf of his country. Mr Mandela's role in South Africa hosting – and going on to win – 1995's Rugby World Cup had by this time been turned into a film, Invictus. American actor Morgan Freeman received an Oscar nomination for portraying Mr Mandela in his bid to use sport to unite the country post-apartheid. South Africa's football players were unable to match the earlier success of their rugby counterparts but the successful hosting of the event and the cross-racial support for the national team again underlined Mr Mandela's achievements. In January 2011, Mr Mandela spent two nights in a Johannesburg hospital for what his doctor said was a respiratory infection. Officials said his office received more than 10,000 letters of good wishes, including from US President Barack Obama. In June 2011 Mr Mandela issued a message calling Albertina Sisulu "one of the greatest South Africans" as the country mourned a woman celebrated for her role in the fight against apartheid. She had collapsed and died at her Johannesburg home at the age of 92. Mr Mandela's message, read by his wife Graca Machel during the funeral at a Soweto football stadium, set off a brief rally of singing and dancing in his honour. In November 2011 the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall inquired about Mr Mandela's state of health, while they were visiting South Africa. They were told that the 93-year-old was "fine, happy and peaceful and enjoying life" at his birthplace in rural Qunu in the Eastern Cape. In February 2012 it was announced that the complete series of South African bank notes would bear Mr Mandela's image. President Jacob Zuma said at the central bank offices: "With this humble gesture, we are expressing our deep gratitude as the South African people, to a life spent in service of the people of this country and in the cause of humanity worldwide." The announcement was made on the 22nd anniversary of the anti-apartheid leader's release from prison. Later that month an increasingly fragile Mr Mandela hit the headlines again, this time when he spent a night in hospital for a long-standing abdominal complaint. The former president's health took another turn for the worse in December last year when he was admitted to a military hospital for treatment for a lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones. Worshippers gathered at the Regina Mundi Catholic church – a centre of anti-apartheid protests and funerals – in the Soweto area of Johannesburg to pray for the former leader. He spent Christmas Day in hospital with his wife and family members at his bedside during his three-week stay. He was again admitted to hospital in Pretoria in March this year, and on April 6 he was discharged from a hospital after treatment for pneumonia, which included a procedure in which doctors drained fluid from his lung area. On June 8 he was admitted to hospital again with a recurrence of his lung infection, and in recent weeks his health deteriorated. Mr Zuma said on June 23 that Mr Mandela's health had deteriorated and he was in a "critical condition", but added that he was "in good hands" as well-wishers continued to voice support for a father figure and symbol of integrity who will be remembered as the man who saved South Africa.
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