remains in critical but stable condition in a pretoria hospital. president jacob zuma made the comments amid rampant speculation and other conflicting reports about the 94-year-old's condition which has led to confusion. nbc's ron allen is in pretoria, south africa, with the latest. good day to you, ron. >> here the hospital in pretoria, the crowds continue to arrive at the hospital offering their prayers, singing hymns and paying respects to nelson mandela. the official word from the government is he remains in critical but stable condition, although very little detail has been released about his condition inside the hospital. that's why there's a lot of rumor and speculation. a report making the rounds he is in a persistent vegetative state on life support and his family has been advised to discontinue care. the government flatly denies that and says it's not true. in the past the mandela family has reacted negatively to simpler reports. we heard from mandela's wife graca, who says he is at times