{"id":6122,"date":"2013-06-26T05:40:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T05:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6122"},"modified":"2013-06-26T05:40:58","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T05:40:58","slug":"candles-burn-for-ailing-mandela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6122","title":{"rendered":"Candles burn for ailing Mandela"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cards<\/a>
Cards and flowers for Nelson Mandela outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burning candles, bouquets of pink and red flowers, paintings and hundreds of messages at the entrance of a Pretoria hospital on Wednesday urged critically-ill former president Nelson Mandela to soldier on.<\/p>\n

Well-wishers have consistently registered support for Mandela in different forms, transforming the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital’s security wall into a miniature art gallery.<\/p>\n

The celebrated anti-apartheid icon was admitted at the facility in the early hours of June 8 for a recurring lung infection.<\/p>\n

The catalogue of presents, get-well-soon cards, mainly handwritten on cardboard, eclipsed the hospital’s signpost at the entrance on Celliers Street.<\/p>\n

A card attached to a white teddy bear read: “Dearest Madiba. Thank you for everything you have done for our country. You are and will always be a true legend and a grandfather to all. From Alphonso Tania”.<\/p>\n

Another read: “Tata Madiba, the Lord knows the plans of his children. May you get better, but even if you don’t, we will still love you as a nation. [From] Lwandile”.<\/p>\n

Three candles were burning slowly near the messages. Many balloons, including several from a popular pizza outlet, were tied with ribbon onto bunches of flowers.<\/p>\n

Security at the private hospital has been upscaled since Madiba was admitted.<\/p>\n

After 5am on Wednesday, several police officers started screening vehicles entering the facility.<\/p>\n

Despite the cold, scores of journalists from local and international media houses stayed outside the hospital.<\/p>\n

Several broadcast vans still had their engines running. The news crews also set up generators for back up power.<\/p>\n

Tshwane metro police officers parked near journalists on Celliers street. Numerous police patrol cars were also in the area.<\/p>\n

Mandela’s home in Houghton was quiet on Wednesday morning, with police cars occasionally patrolling the area.<\/p>\n

Around 1.10am three cars and one van from the Johannesburg metro police came down 4th Street, and turned into the street where Mandela’s house is located.<\/p>\n

The van at the back of the patrol switched on its hazard lights, reversed and parked in the street in front of the gate before flashing its headlights.<\/p>\n

About eight officers got out of the vehicles and had a discussion in front of the gate for 10 minutes before they all got back into the cars and drove off slowly.<\/p>\n

Many Mandela family members, politicians, socialites and religious leaders had visited Madiba at the hospital after he was admitted for a recurring lung infection on June 8.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Pumla-Makaziwe Mandela visited the Medi-Clinic Heart hospital, in Arcadia, east of Pretoria.<\/p>\n

Mapisa-Nqakula arrived in a black Mercedes-Benz with blue flashing police lights shortly before 7pm.<\/p>\n

Minutes earlier Mandela’s eldest daughter, Pumla Makaziwe-Mandela, and his granddaughters Tukwini and Ndileka Mandela, arrived at the hospital in a red Range Rover.<\/p>\n

Shortly before their arrival, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba left the hospital.<\/p>\n

Madiba’s step-daughter Jozina Machel was also at the hospital.<\/p>\n

Controversial businessman Kenny Kunene arrived at the hospital’s Celliers street entrance to place flowers and speak to the media.<\/p>\n

After Kunene’s visit, more Pretoria metro police officers arrived at the entry point.<\/p>\n

They cordoned off Celliers Street where it meets with Park Street.<\/p>\n

Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa arrived to check on the police officers and left after a brief discussion with them.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, the presidency confirmed that Mandela remained in a critical condition.<\/p>\n

“[Mandela’s] condition remains unchanged in hospital, and doctors continue to do their best to ensure his recovery, wellbeing, and comfort,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. – Sapa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Burning candles, bouquets of pink and red flowers, paintings and hundreds of messages at the entrance of a Pretoria hospital on Wednesday urged critically-ill former president Nelson Mandela to soldier on. Well-wishers have consistently registered support for Mandela in different forms, transforming the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital’s security wall into a miniature art gallery. The celebrated … Continue reading “Candles burn for ailing Mandela”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[3479,2242,1381,3076,560,139],"class_list":["post-6122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-candles","tag-health","tag-hospital","tag-journalists","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-pretoria"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/NelsonMandela_cardsflowers.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6125,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6122\/revisions\/6125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}