'Madiba has done enough'

Nelson Mandela "has done more than was ever expected of him on earth [and] there's nothing more we can ask or expect of him".

"All we can do now is let him go - and leave the rest in God's hands," said Nozolile Mtirara, 92.

One of Mandela's oldest surviving friends, Mtirara said it was "emotionally painful learning [from TV and radio news updates] that [Mandela] is being kept alive by machines".

Last week, it was reported that Mandela was on a ventilator at Pretoria's Mediclinic Heart Hospital because he had difficulty breathing on his own.

Mtirara has known Mandela since about 1941. She said that on Sunday she could barely listen to the news updates about him .

"There's nothing more anyone can do," she said.

Mtirara said she was upset that a close friend was going through so much pain.

"It is not an easy decision for his family [but] all that can be done now is to let him go."

Mandela's family recently described statements such as "It's time to let Mandela go" as insensitive.

Speaking to the local and international media last week outside the Mandela Museum, in Johannesburg, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - supported by her daughter, Zindzi - said this was a difficult time for the whole family.

"If we are sounding bitter, it is because we are dealing with a very difficult situation . you can understand."

Mtirara said it was difficult to imagine a man as strong-willed as Mandela being unable to talk or do things for himself.

When Mandela spent eight months in his rural homestead in Qunu last year, Mtirara was one of only a handful of people allowed to see him.

"When I last saw him he barely had enough strength to talk. We spent most of the time silently sitting in the lounge," Mtirara recalled. But when they did speak Mandela would ask when Jongintaba Dalindyebo would visit him.

Dalindyebo, who died in 1942, was the acting paramount chief and head of the Madiba clan.

Dalindyebo raised Mandela when he left Qunu in 1927, at the age of nine, to live at the royal palace, Mqhekezweni Great Place, about 35km from Qunu.

Mandela lived in the palace until he was 25.

Mtirara still lives at the palace, which she has single-handedly looked after for about 39 years.

She married Mandela's childhood friend, traditional leader and chief Justice Zwelidumile Mtirara, in 1945.

For more than a decade, Mandela and Justice Mtirara - who shared a whitewashed rondavel containing two beds, a table and an oil lamp in Mqhekezweni - were almost inseparable.

When Nozolile explained to Mandela that Dalindyebo had died years ago he would then ask to see Dalindyebo's son and heir, Justice Mtirara, who died in 1974, and a few of his other childhood friends.

"It was often not easy breaking the news to him that they had all died," Mtirara said.

"In his mind he thought they were still alive and he wanted to see them once again."

Mtirara said Mandela needed help to hold things, including the newspaper, which was often read to him. Mandela was flown to the hospital from his Qunu home on December 8.

Today he will spend his 24th day in hospital being treated for a recurring lung infection.

He is said to be in a critical but stable condition.