Nelson Mandela, who is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July 18, is still alive at press time.

However, a lot of people seem to think that he is dead.

As usual the rumours are spreading like wildfire in the social media, helped along by ignorant celebrities like Rihanna.

The singer tweeted yesterday that she is sending prayers to the ‘heavens’, for the former South Africa President.



The tweet received 11,248 retweets with 3,732 favourites.

Many others also jumped on the bandwagon of making assumptions about Mandela’s death by tweeting about it.

There is even a hashtag created for his death, 'RIP Nelson Mandela'.






There were also some people who refused to believe the rumours.




The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader, who was admitted to Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, was in a critical condition on Tuesday and doctors are doing their best to ensure his recovery.