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Qunu — Qunu is praying for a miracle for Nelson Mandela, one of the former president’s neighbours have said.
“We are following the news about Madiba’s condition on the television,” Nokuzola Soyaya (42), said. “We always know when he has been sent to hospital, because that is when the journalists come.
“We are praying for a miracle for him.”
Television film crews and reporters have been filing into Qunu and nearby Mthatha since Mandela was admitted to hospital with a lung infection on Saturday.
Road construction staff have been working around the clock in the past week, preparing the N2 highway around Qunu.
Much of the highway has been dug up and traffic is being diverted over dirt tracks.
Mthatha Airport has also been upgraded “to the extent that a Boeing 747 can land on the runway”, Beeld newspaper reported on Thursday.
“The Mthatha airport is expected to see the most traffic, and planes may have to let passengers disembark and go elsewhere to park,” the newspaper reported.
“It has been generally accepted that the real reason for the upgrade was that Mandela’s hometown Qunu is close to the Mthatha airport.”
Guest houses in Mthatha have reported normal business despite the influx of local and foreign journalists.
“I heard about the so-called rush to Mthatha and Qunu, but it has been nothing much for us,” said a guesthouse owner in Mthatha.
By late on Thursday, a Qunu resident who asked to be identified only as Albert, said he was relieved to hear on the radio that Madiba “is doing better”.
“We pray for the best,” he said, standing next to the Mandela clan graveyard as he spoke to a friend.
One of Mandela’s cousins, Florence Mandela, 96, will be buried in Qunu on Saturday.
Four young Qunu men, working with picks and spades on a track in the village, said they were preparing for the funeral, which would be held nearby.
Meanwhile, several clerics arrived yesterday morning at the Pretoria hospital where former president Nelson Mandela is recuperating.
Bishop Abraham Sibiya, a member of the International Bishops’ Conference, led a group of bishops to the hospital at 11:00.
“We have come to respond to the call of President Jacob Zuma that we must uplift Tata Mandela in our prayers,” he said.
“We have come as leaders of the church in Tshwane, North West, Mpumalanga. There are pastors coming from other provinces.”
He said a prayer session would be held outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital because there were restrictions on entering the facility.
“We are not going to go inside, we are restricted from going in. We are not able to go inside,” said Sibiya.
“We can pray anywhere. We have come to uphold the former president in prayer.”
He said Mandela family members might join the prayer session. — AP
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