Former Cabinet minister Chris Heunis was in a stable but ”still critical” condition in the Vergelegen medi-clinic in Somerset West on Friday, his daughter Martia said.
She said her father has had long-term kidney problems, and was admitted on Tuesday suffering from dehydration. Since then, his lungs and heart have also started to fail.
He is currently in the intensive-care unit, sedated and on a ventilator. He was put on dialysis on Thursday, and there has been some improvement in his kidney function.
Heunis was elected to Parliament for the then National Party (NP) in 1970, and rose to become minister of constitutional development under PW Botha’s government.
At one time his name was being mentioned as a possible candidate for state president.
He became leader of the Cape NP, the largest of the four NP divisions in the country, in 1986 when Botha stepped down. — Sapa