[img]http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130627&t=2&i=745209662&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=460&pl=300&r=CBRE95Q0HG000[/img]

South Africans prepared on Thursday to say farewell to ailing anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela after his condition deteriorated further in hospital, forcing President Jacob Zuma to cancel a trip to neighbouring Mozambique.

Zuma was due to attend a summit in Maputo of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to discuss regional infrastructure, but pulled out after visiting the 94-year-old former president in hospital late on Wednesday.



"Over the past 48 hours, the condition of former president Madiba has gone down," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told state broadcaster SABC, using the clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known.

Maharaj said Mandela's condition remained critical. He declined to comment on media reports that he was on life support in the Pretoria hospital where he is being treated for a lung infection, saying his privacy should be respected.

Mandela has already spent 20 days in the hospital, his fourth hospitalization in six months.

This has forced a growing realisation among South Africans that the man regarded as the father of their post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" will not be among them for ever.

"Mandela is very old and at that age, life is not good. I just pray that God takes him this time. He must go. He must rest," said Ida Mashego, a 60-year-old office cleaner in Johannesburg's Sandton financial district.

Mandela, South Africa's first black president, is admired around the world as a symbol of resistance to injustice for the way he opposed his country's apartheid system, spending 27 years in jail, more than half of them on notorious Robben Island.

He is also respected for the way he preached reconciliation after the 1994 transition to multi-racial democracy following three centuries of white domination.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/uk-mandela-idUKBRE95Q07B20130627

They are just doing him more harm, wasting a lot of money on him. Since it's obvious he ain't going to live past this year, why not allow the old man to pass on peacefully? You can never prolong death. Mandela needs eternal rest.

Get well soon.

He has passed on.
May Tata Rest in Peace.

Time up.

Mandela needs to go n rest above.. D life he enjoyed here iz ohk...

Him family don dey fite over him burial site and burial rites already. Time don reach.

When someone on life support condition worsens.. Apparently he is dead. They should just say it and stop beating about the bush.. An Icon is an icon and he will be remembered as one..

Zuma cancelled an official trip to Mozambique cuz of Mandela state of health? Like Mandela is a god to South Africans.

Hope he recover soonest

leejeebaby: Get well soon.

are you serious?

God of mercy[b][/b]

Old age

Everything in life have an end

make e no be like say i no follow.. Last to comment. Howeva why are south african girls are fond of not shaving the Kitty-Cat hairs?

Mandela still wan cheat death. We dey watch tori. Whether him go cheat Death or Death go chop am like tuwo.

HARDEYLEKE: Mandela needs to go n rest above.. D life he enjoyed here iz ohk...

27years in high profile detention centre Robben Island is not enjoyment.

God can still do something.infact mandela can still mark his 100th birthday! i wish him well honestly

No one can stop this man from dying if his creator has deemed it to be so. Beside, this man is not a child. @94?

Maybe the time is about to come.

Hmmm! Tnx To God he is not from nigeria, where doctors go on strike everyday because of money and selfish intrests...if not he would have been called to glory!!!

Its sad that he is in this condition. Hope he gets well soon. Regards to all his family.

May God grant him speedy recovery

Looking like Madiba's time is up soon ...

Wishing him a speedy recovery

his life was well spent, hope everyone of us will be remembered for something good

This is a serious battle

At 94, it is only realistic to prepare to let him go, however, only God can determine that. S long as he is not dead, there is still hope.

This man has lived a fulfiled life full of the ups and downs of a really eventful life.he was truly blessed and I've no doubt that when the exact hour comes,he'll go in a blaze of Glory.God rest his soul when that happens.
God bless Mandela
God bless Africa.

God is in control!!!

'Twas a life well spent.

About to join his ancestors.