South Africa:Nelson Mandela in critical condition

the …
EXPLORE RELATED CONTENT
South Africa: Mandela ambulance had engine
problem
South Africa: Mandela taken to hospital
Mandela still in hospital in serious condition
Mandela remains in serious but stable
condition
South Africans resigned over 'critical'
Mandela
South Africa president: Mandela is improving
Mandela's health worsens, condition now
'critical'
CBSTV Videos
WABC – NY
ABC News Videos
MORE WORLD NEWS
Afghan forces put down attack on presidential
palace: police 1 hr 25 mins ago
No sign of Snowden as Aeroflot plane lands in
Havana 3 hrs ago
Top China paper hits back at U.S. accusations
on Snowden 1 hr 55 mins ago
Brazil's Rousseff calls for constitutional vote to
quell protests 3 hrs ago
Qatar emir announces transfer of power to his
son 24 mins ago
Iran condemns Egypt's sectarian killings as
'contradicting Islam' 1 hr 22 mins ago
Qatar's outgoing emir, a visionary for tiny Gulf
state 16 mins ago
South Africa:Nelson Mandela in
critical condition
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA | Associated
Press – 23 hrs ago
Associated Press/Schalk van Zuydam, File - FILE
- In this Wednesday, July 18, 2012 file photo,
former South African President Nelson
Mandela as he celebrates his 94th birthday
with family in Qunu, South Africa. … more
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela 's
health has deteriorated and he is now in
critical condition, the South African
government said.
President Jacob Zuma visited the 94-year-
old anti-apartheid leader at a hospital
Sunday evening and was informed by the
medical team that Mandela's condition had
become critical in the past 24 hours, the
president's office said in a statement.
"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 in the Sunday statement, using
Mandela's clan name.
Zuma also met Graca Machel, Mandela's
wife, at the hospital in Pretoria and
discussed the former leader's condition,
according to the statement. Zuma was
accompanied on the visit by Cyril
Ramaphosa, the deputy president of the
country's ruling party, the African National
Congress.
Mandela was jailed for 27 years under
white racist rule and released in 1990. He
then played a leading role in steering the
divided country from the apartheid era to
democracy, becoming South Africa 's first
black president in all-race elections in
1994. He was hospitalized on June 8 for
what the government said was a recurring
lung infection.
In Sunday's statement, Zuma also discussed
the government's acknowledgement a day
earlier that an ambulance carrying
Mandela to the Pretoria hospital two weeks
ago had engine trouble, requiring the
former president to be transferred to
another ambulance for his journey.
Pretoria, South Africa's capital, lies about
50 km (30 miles) from Johannesburg, where
Mandela has been living.
"There were seven doctors in the convoy
who were in full control of the situation
throughout the period. He had expert
medical care," Zuma said. "The fully
equipped military ICU ambulance had a full
complement of specialist medical staff
including intensive care specialists and ICU
nurses. The doctors also dismissed the
media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac
arrest. There is no truth at all in that
report."
Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is
seen by many around the world as a symbol
of reconciliation, and Zuma appealed to
South Africans and the international
community to pray for the ailing ex-
president, his family and the medical team
attending to him.
The ruling party expressed concern about
the deterioration in Mandela's health.
"We welcome the work being done by The
Presidency to ensure that South Africans
and people of the world are kept informed
on the state of Madiba's health," the party
said. "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."
In Washington, the White House National
Security Council spokeswoman noted the
latest reports from the South African
government about Mandela's worsening
condition.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with him,
his family and the people of South Africa,"
said spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.
Prior to Zuma's statement late Sunday,
reports from the government, former
President Thabo Mbeki and a grandson of
Mandela had indicated that the health of
Mandela was improving, even though he
has been in the hospital for treatment
several times in recent months. In the days
following his latest hospitalization, Zuma's
office described his condition as serious but
stable. Family members have been seen
making daily visits to the hospital where
Mandela is being treated.
Mandela, who has become increasingly frail
in recent years, last made a public
appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer
tournament, which was hosted by South
Africa. He didn't deliver an address on that
occasion and was bundled against the cold
in a stadium full of fans.
On April 29, state television broadcast
footage of a visit by Zuma and other leaders
of the African National Congress to
Mandela's home. Zuma said at the time that
Mandela was in good shape, but the footage
— the first public images of Mandela in
nearly a year — showed him silent and
unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to
hold his hand.
Between hospital stays in recent months,
Mandela has been staying at his home in
the Johannesburg neighborhood of
Houghton, where he has received what the
government described as "home-based high
care" by a medical team. On April 6, he was
discharged from a hospital after treatment
for pneumonia, which included a procedure
in which doctors drained fluid from his
lung area.
Mandela has been vulnerable to respiratory
problems since contracting tuberculosis
during his imprisonment under apartheid.
Most of those years were spent on Robben
Island, a forbidding outpost off the coast of
Cape Town.