YOU touch Madiba at your own peril.

That is how South Africa is attached to her former president Nelson Mandela

Any intention to even point a finger at this icon is, in some quarters, akin to walking into a cage of starving lions.

We have to make this example after having had to bear with a number of painful rumours about the health, or lack thereof, of Madiba.

These silly rumours nearly brought South Africa to a standstill every time they hit our ears.

Imagine, therefore, the gloom and hurt that will envelope this country when Madiba is finally called by the Almighty.

We can never be comfortable with death even if we live side by side. It is human nature.

Only the most malicious people will want to hurt the nation so badly.

We plead with whoever is spreading such sad lies to please stop it. Spare us the hurt.