Mandela showing 'sustained improvement'

JOHANNESBURG - Nelson Mandela's condition continues to improve, the South African government said Monday, six weeks after he was admitted to hospital with a recurring lung infection.

"Former President Mandela is still in a critical condition in hospital but shows sustained improvement," President Jacob Zuma's office said.

In another upbeat statement, the presidency also thanked South Africans and the world for the outpouring of support that marked Mandela's 95th birthday last week.

"The birthday celebrations for the former president on the 18th of July were the biggest ever this year, attracting scores of South Africans who engaged in community service in honour of Madiba," the presidency said, using Mandela's clan name.

South Africans had come out in large numbers to mark the occasion, after weeks fraught with concern about their beloved elder statesman.

Earlier Monday, Mandla Mandela reported that his grandfather was "steadily improving."

[caption id="attachment_398100" align="alignnone" width="412"] Nelson Mandela[/caption]

Mandla, who is embroiled in a bitter spat with family members over his grandfather's burial site, visited Mandela's Pretoria health facility on Sunday.

"The visit left me with a warm feeling because my grandfather is getting stronger and stronger every day," he said.

In a statement, Mandla also issued a thinly veiled rebuke to his relatives after lawyers for more than a dozen family members had claimed in a court filing that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was in a "vegetative state".

Mandla said his grandfather's recovery "flies in the face of those who have been busy spreading lies that Madiba is in a 'vegetative state' and just waiting for his support machines to be switched off," he said.

The oldest Mandela grandson, who is chief of Mandela's birthplace Mvezo in the rural Eastern Cape province, has fallen out with relatives after moving the three graves of Mandela's children without consulting the family.

Following a court order, the remains were reburied earlier this month in Mandela's childhood village of Qunu, where the anti-apartheid hero has said he himself wishes to be buried after his death.

Mandla's family has laid a charge of grave-tampering against him.

Mandla was notably absent for Mandela's birthday celebrations in hospital last Thursday.

He was instead carrying out community projects around his village as part of Mandela Day, a global day of charitable acts in honour of his grandfather, seen as the democratic father of South Africa.

Mandela's current hospital stay is his longest since he was released from prison in 1990, after serving 27 years under the apartheid regime.

 

Mandela still 'critical but stable'

JOHANNESBURG - The South African government said Tuesday that ailing icon Nelson Mandela remains in a "critical but stable" condition after more than one month of intensive hospital treatment.

In a statement, President Jacob Zuma thanked members of the public for their "dignified gatherings outside the hospital" in Pretoria where he was rushed June 8 and for services that have offered prayers for the 94-year-old hero.

Zuma also thanked the international community "for ongoing messages of support to Madiba and his family," using the Nobel Peace Prize winner's clan name.

Meanwhile friends and family offered a more upbeat assessment of Mandela's condition.

"With less than two weeks to go before the old man's 95th birthday on 18 July, it's time to celebrate his life. The old man is very much alive," said grandson Ndaba Mandela outside the hospital.

"When I speak to him he responds. Let us not be in a spirit of sadness but a spirit of celebration because the old man is still with us today."

Granddaughters Zaziwe and Zamaswazi took to Twitter to reassure followers that Mandela was responsive.

"He is communicating with us, we are staying positive," said the granddaughters via a joint account.

"He smiles."

Court documents filed on behalf of the family last month described Mandela's condition as "perilous," with one claiming he was in a "vegetative state."

According to friend Denis Goldberg, doctors had considered turning off his life support, but decided it was not warranted in the absence of organ failure. ( AFP)