Former South African President Nelson Mandela is responding to touch and is "still there", his eldest daughter Makaziwe said on Thursday after visiting the critically ill anti-apartheid leader in hospital.

Speaking on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) she admitted her father was in a poor state of health but criticised the way some media outlets had reported the latest developments.

She said she believed there was a "racist element" among many foreign media outlets, asking: "Is it because we are an African country that people just feel they can't respect any laws?"