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South Africa’s beloved Madiba in ‘critical condition’
June 24, 2013, 7:19 am

[Xinhua]

President Zuma has asked South Africans and the world to pray for Mandela [Xinhua]

The ailing 94-year-old former South African president Nelson Mandela’s condition has become critical, the South African presidency has confirmed.

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela at a Pretoria hospital on Sunday, and the medical team informed him that Mandela’s condition had become critical over the past 24 hours, according to President Zuma’s spokesperson Mac Maharaj.

“The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that he is well looked after and is comfortable,” Zuma said.

“He is in good hands,” added Zuma, appealing to South Africans and the world to pray for Mandela.

Mandela was admitted to hospital in Pretoria with a serious lung infection on June 8.

On March 27, he was hospitalised after doctors diagnosed him of having pneumonia.

He was also admitted in December for a recurring lung infection.

Mandela suffered from tuberculosis when he was incarcerated for 27 years before the apartheid ended in 1994.

Mandela who was jailed by the apartheid government for 27 years was the first democratically-elected president in South Africa.

Source: Agencies