This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/world/africa/nelson-mandela-health.html

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Mandela Still Critical but ‘Much Better,’ Zuma Says Mandela Still Critical but ‘Much Better,’ Zuma Says
(about 2 hours later)
JOHANNESBURG — Amid deepening concern about the well-being of Nelson Mandela, President Jacob Zuma said Thursday that doctors had told him the former president’s condition had “improved during the course of the night” and, though he was still critically ill, he was “now stable.”JOHANNESBURG — Amid deepening concern about the well-being of Nelson Mandela, President Jacob Zuma said Thursday that doctors had told him the former president’s condition had “improved during the course of the night” and, though he was still critically ill, he was “now stable.”
Mr. Mandela was “much better” than he had been late on Wednesday, Mr. Zuma said — the latest of a series of official and unofficial assessments that have produced a degree of trepidation among South Africans and others that the former president’s condition is steadily worsening. Mr. Mandela is “much better” than he had been late on Wednesday, Mr. Zuma said — the latest in a series of official and unofficial assessments that have produced a degree of trepidation among South Africans and others that the former president’s condition is steadily worsening.
Underscoring the gravity of the situation, Mr. Mandela’s eldest daughter described his condition as “very critical” and warned that “anything is imminent.” Underscoring the gravity of the situation, Mr. Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, described his condition as “very critical” in an interview with the state broadcaster and warned, “Anything is imminent.”
The statement from Mr. Zuma’s office was a note of reassurance, after many indications that Mr. Mandela, 94, had slid further after almost three weeks in the hospital, where he was initially treated for a lung infection. She added: “I won’t lie. It doesn’t look good.”
The alarms began sounding late on Wednesday when Mr. Zuma abruptly canceled a visit to neighboring Mozambique, and later visited Mr. Mandela in the hospital for the second time in 24 hours. The worries deepened as South African leaders prepared to welcome President Obama on Friday on the second leg of an African tour. But the statement from Mr. Zuma’s office was a note of reassurance after many indications that Mr. Mandela, 94, had slid further after almost three weeks in a hospital in Pretoria, where he was initially treated for a lung infection.
Mr. Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe, said in a radio interview that her father was in a “very critical condition.” The alarms began sounding late on Wednesday, when Mr. Zuma abruptly canceled a visit to neighboring Mozambique, and later visited Mr. Mandela in the hospital for the second time in 24 hours. The worries deepened as South African leaders prepared to welcome President Obama on Friday on the second leg of an African tour.
“Anything is imminent, but I want to emphasize again that it is only God who knows when the time to go is,” she said, adding later: “I won’t lie. It doesn’t look good.” In the Soweto section of Johannesburg, a line of television cameras stood across the street from the Mandela House Museum, where Mr. Mandela lived before his incarceration in the notorious Robben Island prison. A pair of musicians — a young woman on bongos and a man on guitar — played the same tune, over and over, and sang the same words again and again: “Nelson Mandela … Nelson Mandela … Nelson Mandela.”
But, she added, “if we speak to him he responds and tries to open his eyes — he’s still there.” The Rev. Thami Ntongana, a Nazarene minister, said he had been asked by the local African National Congress Youth League to lead a prayer, and he was waiting for a procession from a nearby church to arrive before he began.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation quoted a spokesman as saying that Mr. Mandela’s health had “gone down” in a 48-hour period. “My prayer will be, ‘God, your will be done,’ ” he said. “We are sad about the situation, but we are realistic about it. We want Mandela to go in his own time, when the moment has come, and it is only God who can pull the main switch.”
In a statement on Thursday, the South African presidency said: “President Jacob Zuma visited former President Nelson Mandela in hospital in Pretoria today, 27 June, and was informed by the medical team that Madiba’s condition has improved during the course of the night. He remains critical but is now stable.” Madiba is Mr. Mandela’s clan name. In another section of Soweto, called White City — because it was one of the first sections to get electricity and so was bright white after dark — two young men sat at curbside with a sign reading “Pray for Madiba,” a reference to Mandela’s clan name, by which he is widely known in South Africa.
President Zuma said in the statement that he “canceled my visit to Mozambique today so that I can see him and confer with the doctors. He is much better today than he was when I saw him last night. The medical team continues to do a sterling job. We must pray for Tata’s health and wish him well. We must also continue with our work and daily activities while Madiba remains hospitalized.” Tata is an affectionate term for father. “All we can do is wait and see now,” said Jabu Mkwele,, 21, a taxi van driver when he can find work. “Madiba will go in his own time and we must be strong and let him go.”
The announcement also seemed to take issue anew with the way Mr. Mandela’s illness was being reported. Although the impact of Mr. Mandela’s illness on Mr. Obama’s visit was not clear, his visit will be overshadowed by expressions of disappointment and even anger over President Obama’s conduct in office.
“The presidency is disturbed by the rumors that are being spread about former president Mandela’s health,” the statement said. “We appeal for respect for the privacy and dignity of the former president.” While South African government officials promise an appropriately warm welcome, a coalition of trade union groups and left-wing political organizations is planning a “National Day of Action” on the first day of his visit, including a march on the American Embassy in Pretoria. The next day, student groups intend to protest outside the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus, where the president is to receive an honorary degree.
The impact of Mr. Mandela’s illness on Mr. Obama’s planned visit was not clear, although President Zuma had earlier dismissed speculation that it might be postponed. Meanwhile, two national groups, including the Muslim Lawyers Association of South Africa, have called on the South African government to arrest President Obama when he lands, charging him with “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” for the American drone attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere and for keeping the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba running.
Speaking at a news conference in Senegal a day before traveling to South Africa, Mr. Obama expressed admiration for Mr. Mandela and referred to him by his clan name. "When President Obama was ushered into the world there was a promise for change of policy, like the closure of Guantánamo Bay, and how he is going to respond to the dispute between Israel and Palestine,” Phutas Tseki, the regional chairman of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said in announcing his group's participation in Friday's protests. “Now he is on his second term, and he continues to be arrogant and his policies continue to entrench American power to the whole globe without any change.”
“I’ve had the privilege of meeting Madiba and speaking to him. He is a personal hero,” Mr. Obama said “But I don’t think I’m unique in that regard. I think he is a hero for the world. If and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on for all the ages.” The scope of the protests accompanying President Obama’s visit, the intensity of which has surprised even some of the organizers, indicates that the country’s longstanding skittishness about American foreign and trade policies has overridden its brief elation over the election of the first black president in the United States.

Declan Walsh reported from Johannesburg, and Alan Cowell from London. Michael D. shear contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.

“The excitement that accompanied his historic 2008 election has given way to widespread cynicism on the continent,” Mwangi S. Kimenyi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in a blog post at ForeignPolicy.com.
As he walked across campus on way to yet another meeting, Masete Levy, president of the University of Johannesburg’s student council, echoed that sentiment, saying that the students he represents are deeply disappointed by the gap between President Obama’s promises before his election and his actual policies in office.
“There is now among the students a feeling that Obama has done nothing to the advantage of South Africa, and has only continued the American policies around the world that we thought he was going to end,” he said. “He is a visitor of our government, and we do not object to that, but we do object to his being honored by our university and we want to make sure he hears our calls that he follow through on the promises he made.”
For its part, the South African government says it is welcoming the protests and will not allow them to derail the president’s visit.
The protests “might have a positive effect,” said Clayson Monyela, spokesman for the Ministry of International Relations. “It is a tangible demonstration of the healthy democracy we enjoy.”

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.