Pretoria – It was quiet outside the Pretoria hospital on Saturday where former president Nelson Mandela is being treated.

A small number of people visited the Medi-Clinic Heart hospital to take pictures of the perimeter wall, which was covered with messages and flowers for the former statesman.

A small group of women sang and prayed in front of the hospital in the afternoon.

The ailing icon was spending his 50th day in the hospital, where he was admitted on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

SAPA