Nelson Mandela is very ill
The 94-year-old Mandela was admitted to a hospital in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon. Churchgoers throughout the country have been praying for Mandela, whose condition at last word was listed as serious but stable. The former president's close friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu has led calls for South Africans to pray for him and wish him a speedy recovery.
South African President Jacob Zuma says he is awaiting word from doctors whether or not to visit the ailing former leader, who served as president from 1994 to 1999. He was previously imprisoned for 27 years, and is believed to have suffered damaged lungs while working in a prison quarry. He contracted tuberculosis in 1980.
Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has been rarely seen in public since.
The African Business Journal
