mr. mandla's condition as serious but stable. now following a visit to mr. mandla here by south african president, the condition has been changed to critical. to quote from the statement, they say that the visitors here, was in fact informed by the medical team that the former president, in other words, mandela's condition had become critical over the past 24 hours. in fact, we understand that the condition has been declining. mr. mandla for some time now, that the lung infection that he was originally admitted for, the same one that has put him in hospital four times over the past seven months, had become further complicated. and that there was now impairment of other vital organ function. until now not just the government but also the family had been delivering fairly upbeat assessments, saying that the condition was not just stable but saying that mr. mandla was doing well. saying they hoped might soon be released and be able to go home. implicit was the hope that he could once again recover almost miraculously from the series of lung infections that he's