Mandela: Obama won’t visit him in hospital

United States President Barack Obama will not visit former South African President Nelson Mandela during his trip to the country.

Obama, who is on a seven-day African tour, is scheduled to arrive South Africa tomorrow, but will not visit Mandela in hospital, the South African government said Thursday.

Mandela, who has been in hospital since June 8 for a lung infection, was described Thursday as being in a stable but critical condition, which necessitated the decision to cancel the meeting between America's first black president and South Africa's anti-apartheid hero.

However, Obama, who was in Senegal yesterday, described Mandela as “a hero for the world”.
“His legacy will linger on through the ages," he said.

Giving an update on Mandela's condition, SouthAfrican President Jacob Zuma confirmed yesterday that the former president was stable, but still remained critical.
“He is much better today (yesterday) than he was when I saw him last night (Wednesday),” Zuma said after speaking to the 94-year-old's medical team.

Mandela’s granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela, reaffirmed the statement, adding that he remained critical.

“He's stable and we'd like to say that we thank everybody for giving their support and praying with us... We are anxious as you know that he is critical but he's in a stable condition right now,” she said.
However, Zuma cancelled a trip to neighbouring Mozambique where a regional summit was scheduled to hold in order not to be taken unawares by any contingency. He preferred to stay back at the hospital where Mandela was said to be on life support.

The decision reinforced the impression that Mandela's life is slipping away, said the BBC.
Ndileka said members of hi

s family were taking comfort from messages of support from the public.

Meanwhile, his daughter Makaziwe said he was “still there” and responding to touch, the BBC reported.

Emotional crowds gathered outside the hospital with messages of support for Mandela, known by his clan name Madiba.

Observers say South Africans, who have been praying fervently for him, now seem resigned to the prospect of his death.

“We don't like seeing Mandela going through so much pain; he has had a tough time in his life and he's gone through a lot of struggle. I think this struggle should get over sooner,” Khulile Mlondleni told Reuters news agency.

“We are all going to feel bad when he passes (away), but at the same time we will be celebrating his life. He has done so many great things for this country,” said 25-year-old John Ndlovu, quoted by the agency.

Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj said yesterday that Mandela's condition had deteriorated over the weekend.

After consultations with doctors, Zuma said he was cancelling his trip to a regional summit in the Mozambican capital Maputo.

In a related development, local media reports said the bodies of three of Mandela's children are to be moved from his birthplace to his home in Qunu, where he himself has said he wants to be buried.

They include his son Makgatho, who died of an Aids-related illness in 2005.
Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was elected president the following year. He left office in 1999 after a single term. He retired from public life in 2004 and has rarely been seen at official events since.

He has a long history of lung problems, and was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1980s while he was a prisoner on Robben Island, off Cape Town.