A new video which shows South African President Jacob Zuma and officials of the governing African National Congress visiting a frail Nelson Mandela has stirred controversy.
The video of the encounter, aired by state broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation, has sparked accusations of exploiting the anti-apartheid hero’s illness.
This is the first television appearance Mandela has made in almost a year.
Zuma and ANC officials are shown visiting the former South African president at his Johannesburg home, where he has been resting after a bout of pneumonia.
Mandela stares mostly straight ahead, his face showing little expression in the footage.
The 94-year-old was in “good health” and “good spirits”, the ANC said after Monday’s visit, in the first update on his condition since he was discharged from hospital in early April.
The footage shows Mandela sitting next to Zuma with a pillow behind his head and his legs propped up under a blanket.
“After receiving a briefing from the medical team, the national officials are satisfied that President Mandela is in good health and is receiving the very best medical care,” the ANC said.
Mandela unsmiling
But the video shows Mandela in an armchair looking grey-skinned and unsmiling with his cheeks showing what appear to be marks from a recently removed oxygen mask.
Zuma jokes and laughs with two officials of the ANC, some Mandela family members and the former president’s medical team while Mandela stares straight ahead.
Zuma tries to hold Mandela’s hand but, given his lack of response, ends up covering it with his own.
