{{Two leading South Africans have called for an end to a bitter row among members of Nelson Mandela’s family over the reburial of three of his children.}}<\/p>\n
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said he hoped the public dispute could be resolved in a “dignified manner”.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Desmond Tutu pleaded with the family not to “besmirch” Mr Mandela’s name with their squabble.<\/p>\n
President Jacob Zuma has meanwhile denied reports that Mr Mandela, 94, was in a vegetative state.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s first black president has spent the past four weeks in a Pretoria hospital with a recurrent lung condition.<\/p>\n
“Madiba remains in a critical, but stable condition. The doctors deny that the former president is in a vegetative state,” said a statement from Mr Zuma, who visited Mr Mandela on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The statement came after court papers filed on behalf of Mr Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe, on 26 June said his health was “perilous” and that he was “assisted in breathing by a life-support machine”.<\/p>\n
However, subsequent court papers also on behalf of Makaziwe Mandela, do not mention that he was in a “vegetative state”.<\/p>\n
One of Mr Mandela’s friends and fellow former prisoners, Denis Goldberg, who visited the anti-apartheid icon on Monday, also said he was responsive but was prevented from speaking because he had tubes in his mouth.<\/p>\n
“I’m quite satisfied he was responsive to what I was saying,” he said.<\/p>\n
His wife, Graca Machel, on Thursday said he is sometimes “uncomfortable, but he has never been in pain”.<\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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