Nelson Mandela in hospital as South Africans pray

South Africans have been praying for Nelson Mandela’s recovery during church services across the country as the 94-year-old former president spent a second night in hospital with a recurring lung infection.

His condition has been described as “serious” for the first time but he is “stable” and is “able to breathe on his own” as well as communicate with relatives, according to government spokesman Mac Maharaj.

Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said the news was very “painful” for the country, which has been divided in its reaction to Mr Mandela’s fourth hospital stay since December.

She said many do not want to see him suffering any longer, echoing the sentiments of a controversial Sunday Times front page headline, “It’s Time To Let him Go”

The article quoted a long-time friend of Mr Mandela’s, Andrew Mlangeni, who said: “The family must release him so that God may have his own way. They must release him spiritually and put their faith in the hands of God.

“Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow.”

Craword said others felt the complete opposite: “The nation is split actually because a lot of people we were talking to really want to hold on to him for as long as possible.

“He means so much to them… Young people saying he is the father, grandfather of the nation.

“He’s held personally responsible for their democracy and they see him as the architect of the new South Africa, the rainbow nation; he is the moral compass of the nation and is seen as hand behind the throne, although he’s not been in active politics for over a decade.”

Local journalist Chriselda Lewis said the country had been “devastated” by his admission to a Pretoria hospital on Saturday.

She said: “The sentiment is ‘we wish you a speedy recovery’… The man is old we understand that, but can you not just stay a little bit longer? But if you stay a little bit longer then when is the right time for him to leave?

“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a right time for South Africans for Mr Mandela to leave. When there’s no Madiba, who is there? That’s the question that we all ask.”

Hundreds gathered to pray for Mr Mandela at Sunday Mass at the Regina Mundi Catholic church in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto.

Soweto resident Mlugisi Sekhosana: “We wish him speedy recovery, he must get well. We know what he did for us in South Africa. All the nation, black and white, we wish him well.”

A friend of Mr Mandela, who spent time with him in jail, told Sky News: “It’s not a good day at all today. It’s terrible to have a day, a Sunday morning where people are praying and the country is saying in a sense ‘please God give us yet another chance’.

“The spirits of everyone in the country are down and we are crossing our fingers.”

The Sunday media splashed pictures of the country’s first black president in better health on the front pages.

The City Press’ front page showed a picture of a smiling Mr Mandela and quoted President Jacob Zuma urging prayers, while the tabloid Sunday Sun headline was “Madiba fights for life!”

The government has yet to give an update on his condition on Sunday.

A statement from the office of President Jacob Zuma on Saturday said: “During the past few days, former President Nelson Mandela has had a recurrence of lung infection.

“(On Saturday morning) at about 1.30am, his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital. He remains in a serious but stable condition.”

It said Mr Mandela was receiving expert medical care and “doctors are doing everything possible to make him better and comfortable”.

Mr Zuma wished Mr Mandela a quick recovery on behalf of the government and the nation and requested that the media and the public respect the privacy of the former leader and his family, the statement said.

Mr Mandela was accompanied to the hospital by his wife Graca Machel, who had been due to address a hunger summit in London but cancelled her participation on Thursday, possibly suggesting that her husband’s health had deteriorated during the last few days.

It is the second time in recent months Mr Mandela, affectionately often referred to as Madiba, has been in hospital.

He spent 10 days in hospital between March and April to receive treatment for pneumonia.

“He is a fighter. He has been through this many times and he has been through worse issues, and he’s survived,” Mr Maharaj said.

A spokesman for the African National Congress, the ruling party that has dominated politics in South Africa since the end of apartheid, said the nation was “prepared for the worst”, but urged people to pray for the icon.

“Madiba is the personification of humanity, friendship, honesty, integrity. He means all of these things to us,” spokesman Jackson Mthembu told Sky News.

The news prompted an outpouring of concern for a figure revered across the globe.

British Prime Minister David Cameron sent his well wishes on Twitter, saying: “My thoughts are with Nelson Mandela, who is in hospital in South Africa.”

From America, where President Barack Obama has often called Mr Mandela an inspirational figure, the White House also sent good wishes.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the people of South Africa as he recovers,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

Mr Mandela has a history of lung problems dating from when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner.

He spent 27 years on Robben Island and in other jails for his attempts to overthrow the white-minority government.

After becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994, he stepped down as president in 1999 and has not been politically active for a decade.

His last major public appearance was in July 2010, at the final of the Fifa World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

Culled: Sky News

18 arrested for hacking man suspected of practicing witchcraft

GUWAHATI  (AFP) – At least 18 tribal villagers in India’s northeast were arrested for hacking to death a man they suspected of practicing witchcraft, police said Saturday.

They claimed they were told to kill the victim by a Hindu goddess who appeared in their dreams.

Mobs have killed at least 200 people over the past five years who they have accused of practising sorcery and witchcraft — mainly in tribal-dominated areas of western and northern Assam state, Indian police say.

The killing took place on Friday at a tea estate village in Assam’s Cachar district, 300 kilometres (180 miles) south of the impoverished state’s main city of Guwahati.

Cachar district police chief Diganta Bora told AFP by telephone that the attack was “barbaric with a group of hysterical villagers sacrificing the man by piercing his neck with sharp weapons and chanting religious hymns”.

The villagers who took part in the killing of the 55-year-old man believed the victim was practising witchcraft and were seeking to “appease the goddess Kali”, the Hindu deity of destruction, Bora said.

“Villagers said during police questioning the goddess told them in their dreams to kill this man to prevent disease and other ills from spreading into their village,” Bora said.

Superstitious beliefs, black magic and demonology are integral to tribal customs in parts of Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states, authorities say.

“Most of the people were drunk and dancing with the dead body in front of them and later they buried him a pit,” the police official said, adding the investigation into the death was still under way.

“We will soon pick up some more people directly involved in this heinous crime that was inspired by superstitious beliefs,” Bora said.

Assam’s police inspector general, Kula Saikia, called such killings “a really big problem” for authorities.

“Most of these cases are inspired by superstition. It is shocking to hear about such incidents in this modern world,” he said, adding that the victims are often killed “very brutally”.

Police in the state have set up a programme, called Project Prahari (Vigilance), that involves community policing and holding regular education campaigns among tribal chiefs and village elders.

“Simply enforcing the law and punishing the guilty are inadequate measures. There has to be an attitudinal change,” Saikia said.

Nelson Mandela admitted to hospital in 'serious condition'

Nelson Mandela, admitted to hospital earlier for a recurrent respiratory infection, is breathing on his own, a spokesman for the South African presidency has said.

The 94-year-old former South African president and anti-apartheid hero was admitted to hospital early on Saturday after battling the infection for a few days.

Mac Maharaj, the spokesman for Jacob Zuma, the current president, said it was a positive sign he was breathing on his own.

“What I am told by doctors is that he is breathing on his own and I think that is a positive sign,” he said. “Madiba [Mr Mandela’s clan name] is a fighter and at his age, as long as he is fighting, he will be fine.”

Mr Maharaj earlier said Mr Mandela’s health was “serious this time,” adding: “Every day that he gets older it gets more serious.”

“The problem is that his infection reoccurred,” he told The Telegraph. “At 1.30am today the doctors came to the conclusion that his condition had deteriorated enough that it warranted hospital treatment.”

Mr Mandela is known to have been on and off a ventilator in recent months but is understood to be breathing on his own this morning.

His wife Graca, flew home from a hunger summit in London to be at his bedside in Pretoria, the nation’s capital.

Mr Mandela is due to turn 95 on July 18. He was also expected to receive a visit from President Barack Obama, who is due to visit South Africa at the end of this month.

In a statement, Mr Maharaj said Mr Mandela, with whom he served time on Robben Island in prison for their battle against apartheid, was “receiving expert medical care”.

“He remains in a serious but stable condition,” the statement said. “Doctors are doing everything possible to make him better and comfortable.”

In March Mr Mandela spent 10 days in hospital with the same lung condition, having similarly been taken from his home by ambulance in the early hours. He was last seen in April, looking frail, unsmiling and dazed. The South African government came under criticism for the images, aired by the public broadcaster SABC, showing him sitting upright on a couch, with his legs covered in a blanket.

There, once stablised, he underwent a procedure to drain a build-up of fluid from his lungs, caused by the recurrence of pneumonia.

In December, he spent nearly three weeks including Christmas Day in hospital for the same lung infection, and to undergo non-invasive surgery to remove gallstones.

In April, the ANC was widely condemned when it released footage of a visit by its senior members, including President Zuma, to Mr Mandela at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg. Despite Mr Zuma’s assurances that Mr Mandela was well, his dazed and weak appearance in the footage shocked South Africans.

This morning’s news prompted the usual flood of wellwishers.

Jackson Mthembu, the ANC’s national spokesman, said the party and its supporters were praying for the former president and his family.

“We call upon South Africans and the peoples of the globe to do the same for our beloved statesman and icon, Madiba,” he said.

“We send to him our well wishes for a speedy recovery so that he may soon be discharged to return to the care and comfort of his home.”

Patrick Craven, spokesman for the country’s biggest trade union, Cosatu, also sent its best wishes.

“Our 2.2 million members, thousands of working people, millions of South Africans and countless more freedom-loving people around the world are thinking of you today,” he said. “Madiba’s contribution to the struggle for freedom and democracy has been second to none and he has deservedly become a revolutionary icon and a model of all people battling against tyranny, exploitation and poverty. Long may he continue to inspire us!”

During his last hospital admission, Mr Mandela’s oldest grandson toldThe Telegraph that his family were under no illusions about his state of health.

“We have been blessed as a family to have my grandfather all these years with us, we have cherished every moment and continue to do so,” Mandla Mandela said.