JOHANNESBURG, south Africa – Nelson Mandela received visits from family members on Sunday at a hospital where the former president and anti-apartheid leader was being treated for a recurring lung infection, while South Africans expressed their deepest appreciation for a man widely regarded as the father of the nation.
There was no official update on 94-year-old Mandela after his second night in the hospital. His condition was described as "serious but stable" on Saturday.
The office of President Jacob Zuma had said that Mandela was taken to a Pretoria hospital after his condition deteriorated around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The anti-apartheid leader has now been taken to a hospital four times since December, with the last discharge coming on April 6 after doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and drained fluid from his lung area.
Members of Mandela's family on Sunday were seen visiting the Pretoria hospital where he is believed to be staying.
They included Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest of the ex-leader's three surviving children, and Ndileka Mandela, one of his 17 grandchildren.
Worshipers at a Sunday church service in the Johannesburg township of Soweto prayed for the recovery of Mandela, who was freed in 1990 after 27 years as a prisoner of white racist rule and won election to the presidency in all-race elections in 1994.
He retired from public life years ago and had received medical care at his Johannesburg home until his latest transfer to a hospital.
A stream of tourists visited Mandela's former home, now a museum, on Vilakazi Street in Soweto. Visitors and vendors wished a quick recovery for the man whose sacrifices in the fight against apartheid made their lives better, even if South Africa is struggling today with high unemployment and other severe challenges.
"He's like one in a million. I don't think we're ever going to get a leader like him. We're living the life that we have because of him and for that we wish him well," said Seponono Kekana, who toured the one-story brick house.
On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other leaders of the ruling African National Congress to Mandela's home.
Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage — the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year — showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his long imprisonment. The bulk of that period was spent on Robben Island, an outpost off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela and other prisoners spent part of the time toiling in a stone quarry.
