Durban, South Africa: If I was an ailing Nelson Mandela, and, at all conscious of the storms surrounding me, I might not be in such a hurry to open my eyes.<\/p>\n
My diagnosis of \u201ccritical but stable\u201d might change rapidly were I to find out how fiercely members of my own family are battling over my remains, and the funds I had provided for them in a special trust administered by people I trusted.<\/p>\n
This spectacle could kill me!<\/p>\n
As thousands of South Africans hold prayer sessions outside \u201chis\u201d Pretoria hospital, and with the world media still on an escalating \u2018death watch,\u2019 inside, there\u2019s been a clash among and between family members, government officials trying to control and spin health information, and, even, doctors who have been cited, wrongly, in court battles about his condition. (The latest news from family members that he is \u201cdoing better\u201d cannot be too encouraging to a media anxious to bring this expensive to cover story to its conclusion.)<\/p>\n
There had been an official denial of a claim that he is in a vegetative state, along with unsubstantiated rumors that he is being kept alive at least until July 18, his 95th<\/sup> birthday, a day marked worldwide as \u201cMandela Day\u201d to encourage community service.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a sideshow sparked by warring family members robs the occasion of any of the dignity it deserves with one daughter of an earlier marriage, and her daughter, lashing out in an obvious bid for money and even to control media coverage with a demand that CNN, a foreign network, should be given \u201cpreferential access\u201d to cover the funeral possible upstaging the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the national broadcaster.<\/p>\n There have been hints of a deal between CNN and members of the Mandela family which the network has now denied, a decision that would not surprise media critics who have of late been condemning the tabloid direction the once might news network has taken that includes marginalizing foreign stories\u2013something the Mandelas might not be aware of.<\/p>\n Explains Dylan Byers, media critic of Politico, pandering for ratings and revenues drives coverage decisions. \u201cThe truth is,\u201d he writes, \u201cCNN\u2019s programming decisions aren\u2019t a reflection of CNN so much as a reflection of the American people, more of whom care about a domestic court trial than about the historic events taking place overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, left unspoken are the years of neglect of the world by news channels, and an educational system that reinforced American parochialism and a lack of global empathy.<\/p>\n Already, all of this sounds more like show biz than news biz in an industry that long ago watered down the serious content of its news. The South African soap opera surrounding Mandela\u2019s long goodbye plays in the trivialization of what should be a more solemn occasion.<\/p>\n Perhaps, that \u2018s why this whole unseemly family feud is being denounced by the likes of Archbishop Tutu while gobbling up acres of newsprint in the world press.<\/p>\n Mandela is being given the dying celebrity treatment with the focus on personality, not politics, on his iconic status, not his role as freedom fighter sent to prison for organizing armed resistance.<\/p>\n His universally loved smile and heroic story has been downplayed in the narrative of grim health bulletins and angry accusations by some in the family who never seem to missing an opportunity to insert themselves in what should be a solemn media moment. Some of the Mandela kids even have their own reality TV series carried locally on Fox.<\/p>\n The man who survived 27 years of imprisonment and earlier medical emergencies behind bars, had to cope with the resentment of some of the people who knew him best.<\/p>\n Here are some of the players in this daily drama.<\/p>\n There\u2019s Makaziwe Mandela, the oldest daughter from the first wife who seems to be still \u00a0nursing anger at not being acknowledged enough. Articulate and well educated, she\u2019s been given interviews for years not so subtly criticizing her dad for being the father of the nation more than her father. He has acknowledged not always being there for his children, but the bashing goes on.<\/p>\n She\u2019s also been a lead actor in the law suit against the administrators of a trust that include George Bizos, the legendary defense lawyer and lifetime Mandela friend, He expressed public disgust by what he described as an outrageous demand for money,<\/p>\n Then, there\u2019s a battle between his nephew Mandla who claims to be tribal chief and was caught unburying members of the Mandela clan. He is battling with both a tribal King who has fired him from his chieftancy, and the daughters who see him as an embarrassment. This conflict is headed for court on a serious charge of grave violation.<\/p>\n At issue right now is the question where Mandela and his relatives should be buried. The Mail & Guardian\u2019s Phillip de Wet asks:<\/p>\n