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‘Mandela very ill but not unconscious’

‘Mandela very ill but not unconscious’
Anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg has said that Nelson Mandela is in a very bad health condition but he is “not unconscious.”

On Friday, Goldberg, Mandela’s friend for more than half a century, said that the former South African anti-apartheid leader was “clearly a very ill man, but he was conscious and he tried to move his mouth and eyes when I talked to him.”

Goldberg added, “He is definitely not unconscious,” saying “he was aware of who I was.”

He also said the issue of turning off Mandela’s medical life support machine was discussed and rejected.

“I was told the matter had been raised and the doctors said they would only consider such a situation if there was a genuine state of organ failure,” Mandela’s friend said.

“Since that hasn’t occurred they were quite prepared to go on stabilizing him until he recovers,” he added.

On Wednesday, Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of Nelson Mandela, said Mandela was breathing by medical life support machine and that his condition was ‘perilous.’

“He is assisted in breathing by a life support machine… the anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds,” Makaziwe said.

The papers say Mandela’s “perilous” breathing situation has lasted at least six days and his condition has been “critical” since June 23.

South African officials have neither confirmed nor denied whether Mandela is on life-support condition.

The 94-year-old icon was taken to hospital for a lung infection. His lung troubles date from his 27 years in prison.

Mandela, who led the country to democracy in 1994, left office in 1999 after serving one term as South Africa’s president. Seen as South Africa’s moral compass, the highly-revered leader announced his retirement from public life in 2004, but continued to make a number of public appearances.

The former South African president has received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

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