Gardeners clean the lawn as a get well card is placed outside the house of former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela in Houghton, June 10, 2013.
Mandela Remains in Serious Condition
South Africa says former president Nelson Mandela remains in serious but stable condition at a Pretoria hospital.
A government statement Tuesday said President Jacob Zuma has been briefed by the medical team treating Mandela and is satisfied it is doing its best to make him better.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
1918 - Born in Transkei, South Africa
1944 - Joined African National Congress
1956 - Charged with treason, later acquitted
1962 - Convicted of sabotage and sentenced to 5 years
1964 - Sentenced to life in prison for plotting to overthrow the government
1990 - Released from prison
1991 - Elected president of ANC
1993 - Won Nobel Peace Prize
1994 - Elected president of South Africa
1999 - Decided not to seek a second term as president
2004 - Retired from public life
2007 - Formed The Elders group
2011 - Briefly hospitalized for a chest infection
2012 - Hospitalized again,this time for gallstones
2013 - Treated for a recurring lung infection, dies on Dec. 5
The anti-apartheid icon, who is 94, was hospitalized Saturday for a lung infection, the fourth time that ailment has put him in the hospital since December.
At a Tuesday briefing, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to say if Mandela was breathing on his own, conscious or speaking.
"Those details the doctors have provided on a confidential basis to the president. We must bear in mind that there are a whole lot of aspects - that while all of us are interested in the health of former President Mandela, there are aspects that affect patient-doctor privacy," he said.
A friend of the elder leader, Andrew Mlangeni, told the Sunday Times newspaper that the internationally admired statesman may not be well again, and he urged family members to "release him."
Mlangeni said "Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow."
Robben Island, South Africa
Mandela has been vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment under South Africa's apartheid system.
He was released in 1990 and went on to serve as president after his African National Congress party won South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.
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