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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