Prayers for Mandela as family urged to 'let him go'

 Nelson Mandela are pictured outside of his Johannesburg home on June 9, 2013

In Summary

• Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness following his release from 27 years in prison during white minority rule and his latest hospitalisation has triggered outpourings of concern across the globe
• South Africa's cricket star AB de Villiers joined world figures including Prime Minister David Cameron and the White House in sending best wishes for Mandela
• Controversial television footage in April showed a frail, distant and unsmiling Mandela being visited at home by ANC leaders, sparking accusations that his party was exploiting him

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa prayed for Nelson Mandela on Sunday as the revered peace icon faced a third night in hospital, with calls for the family and the nation to "let him go".

Government officials have given no update on his health since announcing that the 94-year-old was admitted early Saturday and was in a "serious but stable" condition with a lung infection.

"I've seen my father and he's well. He's a fighter," his daughter Zindzi.

But South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president and father of the "Rainbow Nation", following a string of recent health scares

.

It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.

Although the government has not identified the hospital treating Mandela, family members were seen leaving a heart clinic in Pretoria where a large media camp is gathered.

"We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him," Mandela's long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87,  using his clan name.

"Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too," said the former apartheid era prisoner, who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964.

Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness following his release from 27 years in prison during white minority rule and his latest hospitalisation has triggered outpourings of concern across the globe.

He has not been seen in public since the World Cup final in July 2010.

Song filled the morning air at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a key flashpoint in the anti-apartheid struggle, as worshippers prayed for their hero.

"I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?" said churchgoer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father.

"He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him."

Mandela's third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to a London conference.

While Twitter users expressed sadness and urged a quick recovery, they were also prepared for the worst.

"Madiba has served us well, a real blessing a definition of a leader but it's time to let him Go. We can't hold on forever," said one tweet.