Nelson Mandela Remains in Critical Condition

Nelson Mandela Remains in Critical Condition

By DEVON MAYLIE And PATRICK MCGROARTY



PRETORIA—Nelson Mandela remained in critical condition on Monday, as

attention shifted to the Pretoria hospital where the 94-year-old

former president has convalesced for more than two weeks.



Mr. Mandela's declining health also has prompted many South Africans

to weigh his legacy against his African National Congress party's

track record for delivering on his vision for a nonracial society that

would pull disenfranchised blacks into the political and economic

mainstream.



The numbers of well-wishers and journalists from around the world

swelled again outside the gates of the private Mediclinic Heart

Hospital in South Africa's capital. Flowers and messages of support

piled up against a brick wall for Mr. Mandela, a sign of enduring

public affection for the ailing statesmen. Family and government

officials have shuttled in and out to see him since Mr. Mandela was

admitted on June 8.



Until Sunday, the government had been terming his condition "serious

but stable." Late Sunday night, the South African presidency said his

health had worsened over 24 hours and his condition had turned

"critical." Speaking to reporters Monday, President Jacob Zuma

wouldn't elaborate on Mr. Mandela's condition or the care he was

receiving.

"All of us as a country should accept that Madiba is old...as he ages,

his health will trouble him," Mr. Zuma said, referring to Mr. Mandela

by his clan name, as he's popularly known here. "When a person is

critical, they are critical," he said.



The hospital's location and cardiac specialty have raised questions

about why Mr. Mandela's doctors brought him there to treat what

officials initially described as a recurrence of a lung infection, one

of many he has battled since contracting tuberculosis during his 27

years in prison for opposing South Africa's former white-minority

regime.



The clinic is 30 miles north of Mr. Mandela's home in the Johannesburg

suburbs, much farther away than a nearby Johannesburg hospital where

he received treatment in the past.



The trip wasn't without complications. Mr. Zuma's office acknowledged

over the weekend that Mr. Mandela's ambulance broke down en route to

Pretoria on June 8, forcing doctors to move him to a second vehicle to

finish the 40-minute drive. But Mr. Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, has

refuted reports that Mr. Mandela went into cardiac arrest on his way

to the hospital. He also denied Mr. Mandela was stranded on the road

for 40 minutes, but didn't elaborate, citing doctor-patient

confidentiality.



Mr. Maharaj said Monday that Mr. Mandela's doctors are in charge of

making all decisions related to his health, including the hospitals at

which he receives treatment and how much information to disclose. Mr.

Mandela has been hospitalized four times since December.



Malcom Matsiko, a 35-year-old accountant who walked past the Pretoria

hospital on his way to work Monday, said he hoped the choice of

hospitals could increase prospects for Mr. Mandela's recovery. "I pray

they brought him because they can make him better here," said Mr.

Matsiko, wearing a tattered black cap bearing the logo of the ANC

party that Mr. Mandela led to power in 1994. "I pray that he will exit

and be with us for some time more."



Mr. Mandela's hospitalization has led many South Africans to reflect

upon the promise he represented when he became the country's first

black president and about whether the ANC and the government have been

able to deliver on the future he envisioned.



South Africa's official unemployment rate is over a quarter of the

workforce, and economic growth is expected to linger near 2% this

year, weighed down by labor unrest at mines and in other sectors.



"Before, there were black people, and they were poor. Now there are

rich black people and poor black people, and the gap in between is not

gone," said Yandi Sigenu, a 24-year-old business analyst in

Johannesburg. "The government worries about only itself and its own

kind."



Mr. Zuma acknowledged South Africa's economic strains on Monday, but

he blamed a prolonged global downturn for the domestic troubles. He

also took issue with critics who have accused his government of a

lackluster performance that hasn't improved upon apartheid-era

education, basic services and levels of employment.



Mr. Zuma said his ANC-led government has successfully brought

electricity and clean water to nearly all South Africans and vowed to

work with businesses to create jobs and "do a lot more to improve the

quality of the poor and working class."



Mr. Zuma added: "What we can say in terms of implementation, we have

not done what we would have wanted to do."

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