We Had Obituaries Ready For Major Statesmen: DSTV Universal Channel

An ad of the obituary, titled "Remembering Madiba 1918-2013" appeared on DSTV Universal Channel 117 on Tuesday night, featuring facts about the life of former South Africa's President, Nelson Mandela.

Viewers vented their anger on social networking site Twitter, calling on the channel to pull the insert and apologise

In a statement issued by ANC on Wednesday, Jackson Mthembu said: "Mistakenly advertising an obituary of former president Nelson Mandela on pay television was uncalled for and totally insensitive on the part of DSTV as he is alive and receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection, as reported by the presidency".

Mthembu said the ruling party nonetheless welcomed the satellite TV service's apology.
Mandela, 94, was admitted to hospital last week with pneumonia.
Explaining the mistake, Universal Channel said it had obituaries ready for major statesmen and offered a "sincere and heartfelt apology for the airing of such announcement....due to a technical error by our team".

Ready obituaries? this is serious, never heard that before.