Get well soon Madiba
Nelson Mandela with his family
South Africans prayed for Nelson Mandela's recovery yesterday as the 94-year-old former president spent a second day in hospital with a recurring lung infection.
Mandela, who became a global symbol of triumph over adversity and South Africa's first black leader in 1994 after the defeat of apartheid, was hospitalised early on Saturday after his already frail health worsened.
It is his fourth hospital stay since December and the government said on Saturday his condition was "serious". During previous hospital visits it had highlighted his "good spirits".
His health is a cause for concern to the millions of South Africans who revere Mandela for his decades of struggle against white-minority rule and steering the continent's biggest economy to all-race elections.
Hundreds gathered to pray for him at Sunday Mass at the Regina Mundi Catholic church in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto.
"We wish him speedy recovery, he must get well," Soweto resident Mlugisi Sekhosana said. "We know what he did for us in South Africa. All the nation, black and white, we wish him well."
"It's time to let him go," was the front-page headline in the Sunday Times with a picture of the former statesman smiling and waving.
"We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him," long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, told the newspaper, using Mandela's clan name.
"You (Madiba) have been coming to the hospital too many times. Quite clearly you are not well and there is a possibility you might not be well again."
It is the fourth hospital stay for Mandela, who turns 95 next month, since December.
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