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Worry Grows as Mandela Is Unchanged in Hospital

A mural of Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, on a wall in Johannesburg. Mr. Mandela was in intensive care on Monday.Credit...Themba Hadebe/Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG — Former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa was in intensive care on Monday, the third day of his latest hospitalization for a recurring lung infection, South African officials said.

“His condition is unchanged,” President Jacob Zuma said in a terse statement.

Mr. Mandela, 94, was admitted on Saturday morning. It was his fourth hospitalization since late last year, when he spent nearly 19 days being treated for pneumonia and having an operation for gallstones. The repeated crises, along with his frail appearance, have stirred concern around the world.

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A portrait of former president Nelson Mandela on fabric in Soweto on Monday.Credit...Themba Hadebe/Associated Press

Now, appeals from Mr. Zuma and other top officials for prayers for Mr. Mandela have raised the possibility that he is near death. Several members of the Mandela family have visited him, according to local journalists who have been staking out the Pretoria hospital where he is believed to be.

Mr. Mandela’s wife, the children’s rights activist Graça Machel, canceled a speech in Britain to remain by his side.

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Zindzi Mandela arrived at the hospital in Pretoria on Monday where her father, former president Nelson Mandela, had been hospitalized.Credit...Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Comments from South African officials seemed to indicate that this hospitalization was more serious than previous ones. Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the African National Congress, told Britain’s Sky News that the party was “prepared for the worst.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s foundation released a statement honoring Mr. Mandela as “the beloved father of our nation,” and praying for his “comfort and dignity.” Mr. Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, from whom he has long been estranged, arrived at the hospital on Monday, with one of their daughters.

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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela's former wife, second from left, and their daughter Zindzi, right, at the hospital in Pretoria on Monday where Nelson Mandela was being treated.Credit...Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting apartheid, and he has had chronic lung problems. He left prison in 1990 and led the African National Congress in negotiating an end to white rule. He was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994, leading the nation into a reconciliation process that sought to give citizens of all races equal voice and seeking to avert efforts to extract revenge on whites for decades of sometimes brutal oppression.

He has been largely absent from public life since 2004.

An ugly battle over Mr. Mandela’s legacy and money has erupted as his health has deteriorated, with two of his daughters suing George Bizos, his close associate, over access to a trust fund that Mr. Mandela had set up for his descendants.

The African National Congress, the party to which Mr. Mandela dedicated his life, has come under harsh criticism for releasing a video of party leaders visiting the visibly ailing former president.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Worry Grows As Mandela Remains In Hospital. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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