Nelson Mandela is now in a 'critical condition', according to the South African president.
President Jacob Zuma and ANC Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital this evening.
They were briefed by Mr Mandela's medical team and told that the 94-year-old's condition had 'become critical over the past 24 hours', but denied media reports that he had suffered a heart attack.
'The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report.'
Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the end of apartheid in 1994, was hospitalised on June 8 for what the government said was a recurring lung infection. Previous statements have indicated that Mr Mandela’s health is improving.
According to a new source, Mr Mandela’s liver and kidney functions are down to 50 per cent and he has not opened his eyes for days.
He has also had two recent procedures, one to repair a bleeding ulcer and another to insert a tube into his body, CBS News reports.
This information indicates that Mr Mandela’s situation is much more much more serious than has previously been reported by South African authorities.
Yesterday it emerged that an ambulance carrying the former South African president to hospital broke down.
The intensive care ambulance broke down two weeks ago when Mandela was being rushed to a Pretoria hospital, leaving him stranded for 40 minutes.
The statement added: 'There were seven doctors in the convoy who were in full control of the situation throughout the period.
'He had expert medical care. The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses.'
'Madiba' has been vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27 years behind bars under apartheid.
In an interview last week, South African President Zuma said Mr Mandela was responding better to treatment.
Marking the 49th anniversary of the sentencing of the former president to life in prison in 1964, last Wednesday Mr Zuma said: ‘We are very happy with the progress that he is now making following a difficult last few days.’
Following the interview with the ANC leader, a government spokesman told local radio that Mr Mandela remained in a 'serious but stable' condition.
Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white racist rule and was released in 1990. He then played a leading role in steering the divided country from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming South Africa's first black president in all-race elections.
As a result of his sacrifice and peacemaking efforts, he is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.
Mandela retired from public life in 1994 and rarely made official appearances after that.
Last night his two grandaughters, Swati Dlamini and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, wrote on their joint Twitter account: ‘Let us never forget to pray. God lives. He is near. He is real. He is not only aware of us but cares for us. He is our Father.’
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Pls pull the plug on this man!!!!!!!
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