JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Nelson Mandela is in a critical condition in
hospital, the South African presidency said Sunday, 16 days after as the
anti-apartheid icon was admitted with a recurrent lung infection.
“The condition of former president Nelson Mandela, who is still in
hospital in Pretoria, has become critical,” Mac Maharaj, presidential
spokesman, said in a statement.
The condition of 94-year-old who entered the hospital on June 8 was said to have deteriorated over the weekend.
President Jacob Zuma broke the news after visiting Mandela Sunday
evening and was told by doctors “that the former president’s condition
had become critical over the past 24 hours.”
Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July 18.
He has been hospitalised four times since December, mostly for the pulmonary condition that has plagued him for years.
Zuma moved to assure the country that medics were doing all they could to save his life.
“The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to
improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is
comfortable. He is in good hands,” Zuma said, using the revered leader’s
clan name.
“The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered
cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report,” said Zuma.
Zuma was accompanied to the hospital by the ruling ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.
The two also met with Mandela’s wife Graca Machel at the hospital and discussed the condition of the Nobel Peace laureate.
Zuma appealed to South Africans and people worldwide to pray for
Mandela, his family and the medics attending to him “during this
difficult time.”
With the latest hospitalisation, many South Africans have come to terms with the much-loved hero’s fragility.
The announcement come after unconfirmed media reports that Mandela’s
condition was worse than what authorities and relatives had been saying
in recent days.
US news channel CBS had at the weekend given details of failing
organs and said that Mandela was “unresponsive” and “has not opened his
eyes for days”.
But authorities had refused to comment on the speculation.
It also emerged that the military intensive care ambulance that
rushed Mandela to hospital in the early hours of June 8 developed engine
trouble, resulting in a 40-minute delay until a replacement ambulance
arrived.
The presidency said that Mandela suffered no harm during the wait for
another ambulance to take him from his Johannesburg home to a
specialist heart clinic in Pretoria 55 kilometres (30 miles) away.
“There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of
the situation throughout the period. He had expert medical care,” said
Zuma.
The African National Congress said it “has noted with concern” that Mandela’s condition had worsened.
“The African National Congress joins The Presidency in calling upon
all of us to keep President Mandela, his family and his medical team in
our thoughts and prayers during this trying time.”
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