As Nelson Mandela's family concludes their very public fight over where the final remains of the former president's deceased children will be placed it looks as if the ailing Mandela will not recover from his current illness, doctors said he is in a "permanent vegetative state," according to Agence France Presse.
A June 26 court filing was obtained by Agence France Presse and it shows just how dire the health situation is for the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero is.
"He is in a permanent vegetative state and is assisted in breathing by a life support machine," lawyers for the Mandela family say in the court filing. "The Mandela family has been advised by the medical practitioners that his life support machine should be switched off. Rather than prolonging his suffering, the Mandela family is exploring this option as a very real probability."
It is unclear what Mandela's current health status is as it is thought that lawyers for the family made the court filing in order to expedite the ongoing court battle over where the remains of Mandela's deceased children, and ultimately where his remains, will be laid, according to Agence France Presse.
Denis Goldberg, a close friend of Mandela's, told Agence France Presse that Mandela's condition has improved.
"He is clearly a very ill man, but he was conscious and he tried to move his mouth and eyes when I talked to him," Goldberg said. "He is definitely not unconscious, he was aware of who I was."
Mandla Mandela, the eldest grandson of Nelson Mandela, secretly moved the remains of the three deceased children of the former president from Qunu to Mvezo. On Thursday the remains were moved back to Qunu, the village where Nelson Mandela grew up, according to the Washington Post.
While the fight appears to be over for now Mandla continued to make comments that caused further derision among the Mandela family. Mandla accused a family member of impregnating his wife as well as accusing the rest of his close relatives of being money grubbers, according to Agence France Presse.
Most damningly Mandla suggested that his brother, Ndaba, was born out of wedlock.
"I don't want to hang out our dirty linen as a family in public but he knows very well that my father impregnated a married woman of which he is the result of that act," Mandla said. "As for the remaining of my two brothers we all know that they are not my father's children."
Mandela remains in the hospital with a recurring lung infection. His wife, Graca Machel, spoke about her husband's importance to the people of South Africa.
"Whatever is the outcome of his stay in hospital, that will remain the second time where he offered his nation an opportunity to be united under the banner of our flag, under the banner of our constitution," Machel said, according to CBS News.
