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June 17, 2010: Former South African President, Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa.AP
JOHANNESBURG – Former South African President Nelson Mandela has spent a second night in a hospital, where he is being treated for a recurring lung infection.
The government has said that 94-year-old Mandela was taken to a Pretoria hospital after his condition deteriorated at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.
There was no official update on Sunday. His condition on Saturday was described as "serious but stable."
Worshippers at a Sunday church service in the Johannesburg township of Soweto prayed for Mandela's recovery.
Mandela's wife, humanitarian activist Graca Machel, canceled an appearance at an international forum on hunger and nutrition in London on Saturday, citing "personal reasons," said Colleen Harris, a spokeswoman for the meeting.
Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Machel had canceled her attendance at the London meeting on Thursday, and had accompanied Mandela to the hospital on Saturday morning, the South African Press Association reported.
"We need to hold our thoughts and keep him in our minds," Maharaj said. "He is a fighter, he has recovered many times from very serious conditions and he will be with us. Let's pray for him and help him to get better."
The African National Congress, the ruling party that has dominated politics in South Africa since the end of apartheid, said it hoped Mandela, known affectionately by his clan name Madiba, would get better soon.
"We will keep President Mandela and his family in our thoughts and prayers at this time and call upon South Africans and the peoples of the globe to do the same for our beloved statesman and icon, Madiba," the party said in a statement.
On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other ANC leaders to Mandela at his Johannesburg 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.
"Nelson Mandela is a father to South Africa and South Africans; every time he is admitted to hospital we feel saddened along with the rest of our country," the Democratic Alliance, the main political opposition party, said in a statement.
South Africans expressed hope that Mandela would recover from his latest setback.
"He is going to survive," said Willie Mokoena, a gardener in Johannesburg. "He's a strong man."
Another city resident, Martha Mawela, said she thought the former president would recover because: "Everybody loves Mandela."
Mandela was robust during his decades as a public figure, endowed with charisma, a powerful memory and an extraordinary talent for articulating the aspirations of his people and winning over many of those who opposed him.
In recent years, however, he has become more frail and last made a public appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, where he didn't deliver an address and was bundled against the cold.
In another recent hospitalization, Mandela was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones in December. In March, he spent a night in a hospital for what authorities said was a scheduled medical test.
