Mandela Family Issues First Statement

'We've lost a son of the soil'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 7, 2013 12:15 PM CST
Mandela Family Issues First Statement
A condolence book for former president Nelson Mandela is situated outside his first township home in Alexandra in Johannesburg, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.   (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Nelson Mandela's family has issued its first statement since the former president's passing, the AP reports via Politico. "The pillar of the royal Mandela family is no more with us physically, but his spirit is still with us," a family spokesman read to reporters. "We have lost a great man, a son of the soil whose greatness in our family was in the simplicity of his nature in our midst—a caring family leader who made time for all, and on that score we will miss him dearly." (More Nelson Mandela stories.)

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