'Only God knows ...'

As Makaziwe Mandela described her father as being "at peace with himself", other close family and politicians streamed into the Pretoria hospital in which a "critical" Nelson Mandela was being treated.

Makaziwe told CNN: "All I pray for as a daughter is that the transition is smooth. He is at peace with himself. He has given so much to the world. I believe he is at peace.''

Asked whether the family should let the 94-year-old former statesman go, Makaziwe told CNN they would not because Mandela had not asked them to.

''In our culture, the Tembu culture ... you never release the person unless the person has told you: 'Please, my children, my family, release me.' My dad hasn't said that to us."

Speaking before it was announced that Mandela's condition was critical, Makaziwe - Madiba's daughter by his first wife, Evelyn - said he was being treated "with all the best medicine in the world. He still opens his eyes ... the touch is there.

''We haven't come to the end yet. It is only God who knows the end,'' she said.

On Sunday night, doctors treating Mandela told President Jacob Zuma and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa that his condition had become ''critical".

Yesterday, Zuma told journalists in Johannesburg that Mandela had been asleep when they had arrived at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital on Sunday night.

"We were there, looked at him, and we saw him," he said.

They had left the hospital after discussions with doctors treating the former statesman as well as with his wife, Graça Machel, Zuma said.

"Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital and doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his wellbeing and comfort," Zuma said.

Mandela's admission to hospital just over two weeks ago was his fourth since December.

The Presidency admitted at the weekend that the military ambulance in which he had been transported in the early hours of June 8 had broken down between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and that there had been a 40-minute wait at the side of the road before another ambulance had arrived. It denied reports that Mandela had gone into cardiac arrest that night.

Visitors yesterday included Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa.

Mandela's granddaughter Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway arrived with her husband, David Manaway, and other family members. Later in the afternoon, Mandela's grandson Ndaba Mandela arrived at the hospital.

Another grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela, thanked South Africans and the international community for continuing to pray for his grandfather, the SABC reported.

Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also visited him, with her daughter Zindzi, and waved to photographers and cameramen camped at the Park Street entrance.

Out-patients leaving the hospital said there was nothing out of the ordinary inside, except restricted access to parts of the premises.

"It is quiet and calm inside, there is nothing really extraordinary happening," said Eva Martines, who had brought a family member for a consultation.

A man who did not want to be named said: "I do not know where exactly he is admitted but there are parts of the hospital where movement is restricted."

The wall of the hospital's Celliers Street entrance was covered with items wishing Mandela a speedy recovery. They include home-made cards, flags, flowers and Mandela's picture on a cloth scribbled with get-well messages.

Planning Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday reassured international investors that they need not worry about South Africa's future once Mandela died because his legacy would be safeguarded.

"There have been concerns expressed, unjustifiably, about what happens when Nelson Mandela is no longer with us," Manuel, a respected former finance minister, told Reuters.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference to launch a report on the validity of an annual World Bank business survey.

Manuel noted that Mandela's health had been deteriorating - his last public appearance was in July 2010 - so his role was already diminished.

"It is a deep and profound tragedy but one that in many ways we have been close to and thinking about for many months . over the past year he hasn't been able to play the advisory role of a patriarch," Manuel said.

"It is up to us [to see that] his legacy lives on. Whether he is physically here or not, it is his legacy we have to protect." - Additional reporting by Sapa