Mandela hospitalized over 60 hours, S. Africa presidency says his condition 'unchanged'

JOHANNESBURG, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Nelson Mandela, 95 in next month, was sent to hospital on last Saturday early hours in Pretoria under "serious but stable" lung infection, and over 50 hours later the presidency only disclosed the condition of the Nobel laureate "unchanged".

Mandela, former South African president and anti-apartheid national hero, will spend the third night in hospital. It is his fourth stay in hospital since last December, which has intensified the attention of the world about the health of the world icon of perseverance and reconciliation.

More and more media come watching and waiting outside the hospital and Mandela's Houghton home in Johannesburg since the words spread. All the media stay at the corner of the opposite street, nearly one hundred meters from the gate of Mandela's house to honor the privacy code.

Outside the Houghton home, the video camera has increased to nine on Monday from two on Saturday, and the number of reporters has been tripled over the same period. Every piece of information and rumor is analyzed and spread among media workers in the winter wind.

President Jacob Zuma on Monday called on the people to pray for "Madiba", the clan name by which Mandela is called by close friends.

The Star local newspaper reported that Mandela was accompanied by close family members, who had stopped everyone from visiting him, including government leaders.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) denied the argument that Mandela's family rule out visiting rights for government officials, but there is a general restrictions for relevant persons only.

Users on social networks have expressed their hope that Mandela survives this latest health issue.

The related page on Facebook has over 1.3 million, and 100 new comments will appear on Twitter for every three minutes, according to the calculation of local news website News 24.

However, local newspaper Sunday Times titled the front-page headline "It's time to let him go," which shows a growing realization among South Africa's 53 million people that the day may finally come to end the miseries of their beloved father of the country.

In April, a state television broadcasted a visit by Zuma at the Houghton house, which showed a thin and frail Mandela.

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