 "Mandela continues to show improvement: SAfPresidency")
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is still critical but continues to show improvement after spending over 50 days in hospital battling a recurrent lung infection, the Presidency said today, avoiding comment on reported health scares that he recently faced.
"Former President Nelson Mandela still remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Pretoria, and continues to show improvement," the Presidency said in a statement.
"President Jacob Zuma has urged the public to continue praying for Madiba (Mandela's clan name) and he thanks those who partake in community work to take forward the good work of Madiba," it said.
The statement also called for support from the business community to establish the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital project.
"Madiba loves children and wants the best for them. He wants us to ensure that they have a better future. He expressed eloquently his wish for a special hospital to cater for the needs of children, hence the plans to establish the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in his honour," Zuma said of plans to establish a hospital in the honour of the anti-apartheid icon.
Mandela, who turned 95 on July 18, has been in a Pretoria hospital since June 8.
The statement, however, did not give any details of a reported medical procedure carried out on the former president recently. It also did not mention any scares that Mandela survived according to a media report in the past week.
CBS news quoting multiple sources had said on Saturday that, "Nelson Mandela underwent a surgical procedure to unblock his dialysis tube but it was described as minor but given the fact that he is critically ill any medical procedure is a cause for concern."
The American CBS network report quoting sources also said that, "In the past week there were two scares, on one occasion Nelson Mandela was not responding to his medicines and on another his life support machine showed him in distress."
Mandela has been hospitalised four times since December.
Mandela, South Africa's first black president, is regarded the founding father of the country's multi-racial democracy.
He has a long history of lung problems, dating back to the time when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island during apartheid. While in jail he contracted tuberculosis.
Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in the African country and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He served as the country's president from 1994 to 1999. He left power after five years as president.
Mandela, respected across the globe as a symbol of resistance against injustice, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
He retired from public life in 2004 and has not been seen in public since the football World Cup final in 2010.
"Former President Nelson Mandela still remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital in Pretoria, and continues to show improvement," the Presidency said in a statement.
"President Jacob Zuma has urged the public to continue praying for Madiba (Mandela's clan name) and he thanks those who partake in community work to take forward the good work of Madiba," it said.
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"Madiba loves children and wants the best for them. He wants us to ensure that they have a better future. He expressed eloquently his wish for a special hospital to cater for the needs of children, hence the plans to establish the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in his honour," Zuma said of plans to establish a hospital in the honour of the anti-apartheid icon.
Mandela, who turned 95 on July 18, has been in a Pretoria hospital since June 8.
The statement, however, did not give any details of a reported medical procedure carried out on the former president recently. It also did not mention any scares that Mandela survived according to a media report in the past week.
CBS news quoting multiple sources had said on Saturday that, "Nelson Mandela underwent a surgical procedure to unblock his dialysis tube but it was described as minor but given the fact that he is critically ill any medical procedure is a cause for concern."
The American CBS network report quoting sources also said that, "In the past week there were two scares, on one occasion Nelson Mandela was not responding to his medicines and on another his life support machine showed him in distress."
Mandela has been hospitalised four times since December.
Mandela, South Africa's first black president, is regarded the founding father of the country's multi-racial democracy.
He has a long history of lung problems, dating back to the time when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island during apartheid. While in jail he contracted tuberculosis.
Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in the African country and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He served as the country's president from 1994 to 1999. He left power after five years as president.
Mandela, respected across the globe as a symbol of resistance against injustice, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
He retired from public life in 2004 and has not been seen in public since the football World Cup final in 2010.