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Mandela hospitalization stirs fears in S. Africa

JOHANNESBURG - Inside a Catholic church that once served as a major rallying point for anti-apartheid activists, the image of a gray-suited Nelson Mandela appears in stained-glass window that also features angels and the cross.

FILE - In this Wednesday, July 18, 2012 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela as he celebrates his birthday with family in Qunu, South Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma says that former President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in Pretoria to undergo tests. Zuma issued a statement Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012 saying that Mandela is "doing well and there is no cause for alarm." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, July 18, 2012 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela as he celebrates his birthday with family in Qunu, South Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma says that former President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in Pretoria to undergo tests. Zuma issued a statement Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012 saying that Mandela is "doing well and there is no cause for alarm." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)Read moreAP

JOHANNESBURG - Inside a Catholic church that once served as a major rallying point for anti-apartheid activists, the image of a gray-suited Nelson Mandela appears in stained-glass window that also features angels and the cross.

Worshipers here prayed Sunday for the hospitalized former president, 94, who remains almost a secular saint and a father figure to many in South Africa, a nation of 50 million people that has Africa's top economy.

Mandela's admission to the hospital over the weekend for unspecified medical tests sparked screaming newspapers headlines and ripples of fear in the public that the frail leader is fading further away.

And as his African National Congress political party stands ready to pick its leader who likely will be the nation's next president, some believe governing party politicians have abandoned Mandela's integrity and magnanimity in a seemingly unending string of corruption scandals. That leaves many wondering who can lead the country the way the ailing Mandela once did.

"When you have someone that's willing to lead by example like he did, it makes things easier for people to follow," said Thabile Manana, who worshiped Sunday at Soweto's Regina Mundi Catholic church. "Lately, the examples are not so nice. It's hard. I'm scared for the country."

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. The Nobel laureate later retired from public life to live in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape area, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

On Saturday, the office of President Jacob Zuma announced Mandela had been admitted to a Pretoria hospital for medical tests and care that was "consistent for his age." Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday morning at the hospital and found the former leader to be "comfortable and in good care," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. Maharaj offered no other details about Mandela, nor what medical tests he had undergone since entering the hospital.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, he was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, he underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

While South Africa's government has offered no details about where Mandela is receiving treatment, the military has taken over his medical care since 2011. At 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Sunday, the facility that cared for Mandela in February, soldiers set up a checkpoint to search vehicles heading into the hospital's grounds.

Mandela's hospitalization dominated news coverage in South Africa, where most have been focused on the forthcoming ANC national convention this month. There, the party that has governed South Africa since Mandela's election will pick either a new leader or reelect Zuma. Becoming leader of the ANC means a nearly automatic ticket to becoming the president in post-apartheid South Africa.

Zuma, 70, faces increasing criticism as poor blacks, who believed the end of apartheid would bring economic prosperity, face the same poverty as before while politicians and the elite get richer.

Those leaving worship Sunday at Regina Mundi stressed the need for South Africa's politicians to follow Mandela's example.