Story highlights South African president cancels Thursday's trip to Mozambique

Mandela is now on life support, an official says

Family collects some of the items left outside the hospital by well-wishers

South Africans lit candles outside the hospital where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela lay Wednesday night amid a report that the former president was on life support.

An official briefed on his condition said he was on life support, but government spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to comment on the report, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

Mandela, 94, considered the founding father of South Africa's multiracial democracy, has been hospitalized since June 8 for a recurring lung infection.

Authorities have described his condition as critical since Sunday, and after visiting him late Wednesday night, President Jacob Zuma canceled his visit to Mozambique where he was supposed to attend a summit Thursday on infrastructure investment.

As the nation remained on edge, police barricaded the street leading to the hospital's main entrance. Well-wishers hung balloons, stuffed animals and messages of support along the wall, and crowds hovering nearby sang "Where is Mandela?"

"We need you!," one sign read. "We love you tata, get well soon!" said another, referring to Mandela by the Xhosa word for father.

Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela, the prisoner-turned-president who reconciled South Africa after the end of apartheid, died on December 5, 2013. He was 95. Hide Caption 1 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela became president of the African National Congress Youth League in 1951. Hide Caption 2 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela poses for a photo, circa 1950. Hide Caption 3 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela poses in boxing gloves in 1952. Hide Caption 4 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela in the office of Mandela & Tambo, a law practice set up in Johannesburg by Mandela and Oliver Tambo to provide free or affordable legal representation to black South Africans. Hide Caption 5 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – From left: Patrick Molaoa, Robert Resha and Mandela walk to the courtroom for their treason trial in Johannesburg. Hide Caption 6 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Nelson and Winnie Mandela raise their fists to salute a cheering crowd upon his 1990 release from Victor Verster Prison. He was still as upright and proud, he would say, as the day he walked into prison 27 years before. Hide Caption 7 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – A jubilant South African holds up a newspaper announcing Mandela's release from prison at an ANC rally in Soweto on February 11, 1990. Two days later, more than 100,000 people attended a rally celebrating his release from jail. Hide Caption 8 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – After his release in 1990, Mandela embarked on a world tour, meeting U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the White House in June. Hide Caption 9 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – At his Soweto home on July 18, 1990, Mandela blows out the candles on his 72nd birthday cake. It was the first birthday he celebrated as a free man since the 1960s. Hide Caption 10 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela and his wife react to supporters during a visit to Brazil at the governor's palace in Rio De Janeiro, on August 1, 1991. Hide Caption 11 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – South African President Frederik de Klerk, right, and Mandela shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work to secure a peaceful transition from apartheid rule. Hide Caption 12 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela votes for the first time in his life on March 26, 1994. Hide Caption 13 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – On April 27, 1994, a long line of people snake toward a polling station in the black township of Soweto outside of Johannesburg in the nation's first all-race elections. Hide Caption 14 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela in Mmabatho for an election rally on March 15, 1994. Hide Caption 15 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela was elected president in the first open election in South African history on April 29, 1994. He's pictured here taking the oath at his inauguration in May, becoming the nation's first black president. Hide Caption 16 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela, left, cheers as Springbok Rugby captain Francois Pienaar holds the Webb Ellis trophy high after winning the World Cup Rugby Championship in Johannesburg on June 24, 1995. Hide Caption 17 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – After one term as president, Mandela stepped down. Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, at right, was sworn in as his replacement in June 1999. Hide Caption 18 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela sits outside his former prison cell on Robben Island on November 28, 2003, ahead of his AIDS benefit concert at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. He was sent to the infamous prison five miles off the coast of South Africa, where he spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars. Hide Caption 19 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela shows something to a group of international journalists visiting the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg in May 2004. Hide Caption 20 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela sits with his wife, Graca Machel, and his grandchildren at his son's funeral on January 15, 2005. He disclosed that his son, Makgatho Lewanika Mandela, had died of AIDS and said the disease should be given publicity so people would stop viewing it as extraordinary. Hide Caption 21 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – The "46664 Arctic" benefit concert was held in Tromso, Norway, on June 11, 2005. 46664 was Mandela's identification number in prison. Here, artists who performed at the event surround him. Hide Caption 22 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Mandela attends an HIV/AIDs concert in Johannesburg on February 17, 2005. Hide Caption 23 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton leans down to whisper to former South African President Nelson Mandela during a visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation on July 19, 2007, in Johannesburg. Hide Caption 24 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – A bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled in Parliament Square in London on August 29, 2007. The 9-foot statue faces the Houses of Parliament. Hide Caption 25 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela and his third wife, Graca Machel, arrive at the 2010 World Cup before the final match between Netherlands and Spain on July 11, 2010, at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto. Hide Caption 26 of 27 Photos: The evolution of Nelson Mandela The evolution of Nelson Mandela – Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Mandela at his home in Qunu, South Africa, on August 6, 2012. Hide Caption 27 of 27

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Several relatives came out to collect some of those items Wednesday.

"He's going to feel a lot better when he sees these signs," said David Manaway, Mandela's grandson-in-law.

His former physician and the nation's ex-surgeon general, Dr. Vejay Ramlakan, also visited the hospital Wednesday, said the national news agency, South African Press Association.

Mandela became an international figure while enduring 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid, the country's system of racial segregation. He was elected the nation's first black president in 1994, four years after he was freed.

"He is our hero. He is my mentor, my father. He is everything to me," said Kuda Nyahumzvi, 36. "But when it is his time, we wish his soul could just rest. He spent so long in jail and struggling."

Even as he has faded from the spotlight, he remains popular and is considered a hero of democracy worldwide.

As South Africans steeled themselves for the worst, details emerged about the family's meeting in his boyhood home of Qunu on Tuesday. An archbishop also stopped by the hospital and conducted prayers, calling for "a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect end" for the former president.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba joined the family at the hospital where Mandela remained in critical condition, the South African Press Association reported.

"Fill them with your holy courage and the gift of trusting faith, and take away their fears so that they may dare to face their grief," he said, according to a copy of the prayer posted on the bishop's website

"And uphold all of us with your steadfast love so that we may be filled with gratitude for all the good that he has done for us and for our nation, and may honor his legacy through our lives."

During the meeting in Qunu, funeral arrangements were not part of the talks, family friend Bantu Holomisa said, according to SAPA.

As a former head of state, plans for Mandela's funeral are spearheaded by the government, according to Holomisa.

Mandela turns 95 in July.