South Africans are finally coming to terms with the mortality of their first true president Nelson Mandela as the father of the ‘Rainbow Nation’, faces a string of health scares in recent months. There are also silent but firm calls from his family and the nation to "let the revered peace icon 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 told reporters Sunday morning.

 

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.The Sunday Times newspaper's stark front page headline was: "It's time to let him go".

 

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 are 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, said.  "Once the family releases him, the South Africans 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. "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."