The former South African President and iconic leader Nelson Mandela has passed away aged 95, BBC news have confirmed. Mandela had been receiving intense home-based medical care for a lung infection and had spent a significant time in hospital. The news has been confirmed by current South African president Jacob Zuma who stated that: “Our nation has lost its greatest son.” Mandela had been revered as a prominent political leader, a human rights activist and a respected statesman. "What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves," Mr Zuma said. "Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell." BBC had reported earlier that there had been a large family gathering at Mandela’s home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. The former President had rarely been seen in public since he officially retired in 2004. Mandela was elected the first black South African President in 1994 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.