Anti-apartheid icon and former South African president Nelson Mandela has become critically ill after more than two weeks in a Pretoria hospital, the South African presidency announced. Mandela is now 94 years old and was taken to hospital in Pretoria earlier this month for the third time this year, with a lung infection. 
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said in a statement that he had been told by doctors on Sunday night that the former president's condition had worsened over the past 24 hours. "The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. 
He is in good hands," said President Zuma, using Mandela's clan name by which he is widely known in South Africa. 

Describing his condition as critical will be very worrying for South Africans, many of whom see him as like a family member. 

There has been little information about his condition in recent days. On 13 June Zuma said that Mandela's health continued to improve but that his condition remained serious. 

Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years. He left power after five years as president. 

The former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner is believed to have suffered damage to his lungs while working in a prison quarry. He contracted tuberculosis in the 1980s while being held in jail on the windswept Robben Island. Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has rarely been seen at official events since.
 

Source: BNA