Nelson Mandela is being kept alive by a breathing machine and faces "impending death", South African court documents show, Belfast Telegraph said.
The former president's health is "perilous", according to documents filed in the court case that resulted in the remains of his three dead children being reburied on Thursday, July 4 in their original graves.
"The anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds," the court filing said.
Mandela, 94, who was taken to hospital on June 8, remains in a critical but stable condition, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma.
The president's office also said doctors denied reports that Mandela was in a "vegetative state".
A younger person put on mechanical ventilation – life support – can be weaned off the machine and recover, but that it can be difficult or impossible for an older person. The longer a person is on ventilation the less the chance of recovery, said the chief executive of the Faculty of Consulting Physicians of South Africa.
