Former president Nelson Mandela’s eldest son is in a critical condition at a Johannesburg hospital, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Monday.
Spokesperson Maretha Slabbert said Mandela was spending time at his son’s bedside.
Slabbert could not say what illness Makgatho Mandela was suffering from, and referred all queries to the former president’s daughter, Makaziwe.
Makaziwe Mandela told Sapa she could not divulge any information as it was ”a private family matter”.
According to the German news agency DPA, Mandela cancelled his engagements on Monday to be at his son’s bedside.
Earlier in the day when the former president failed to show up at a function to launch an African schools initiative, his staff revealed it was because of a ”serious illness” in his family.
Makgatho is Mandela’s eldest child and only surviving son from his first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, a former nurse, in the 1940s.
The 86-year-old anti-apartheid figure’s only other son Thembekile died in a car accident while his father was in prison.
Last year Makgatho Mandela’s wife Zondi died reportedly of pneumonia. The twice divorced Mandela also has three daughters.
Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party said it was saddened by the news.
In a statement on Monday night, IFP Secretary General Reverend Musa Zondi said: ”We are highly perturbed to hear of the illness of President Mandela’s eldest son, Makgatho, and our hope is that he survives this and is restored to good health as we know that nothing will please his family more.
”We are sending this message of solidarity to [former] President Mandela and his family to assure them that we are praying for their son, brother, father and friend.”
Makgatho has three sons, Ndaba (21), Mbuso (13), and Andile (11). – Sapa