South African Press Association

Africa: Mandela Hospital Stay Enters 52nd Day

29 July 2013
Photo: GCIS
People leaving flowers and messages of support for former president Nelson Mandela at Medi-Clinic in Pretoria.

Pretoria — A small number of people braved the cold on Monday morning to visit the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria where former president Nelson Mandela was spending his 52nd day in hospital.

Members of the public took pictures of a hospital wall covered with messages and flowers for the anti-apartheid icon.

Mandela was admitted to hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

At the weekend, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to comment on a report that Mandela had undergone an operation, the international news agency AFP reported.

The former statesman underwent a "surgical procedure to unblock a dialysis tube" on Friday, according to US news network CBS.

The operation was "minor", the network reported.

Maharaj would not confirm that the procedure took place.

"He is critical, stable, but there is some improvement," Maharaj told AFP on Sunday.

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Mandela Hospital Stay Enters 52nd Day

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