South Africans sing, pray for Mandela

JOHANNESBURG — Members of a South African choir have prayed and sung outside a hospital where Nelson Mandela, the country's former president, is reported to be in critical condition.

In addition to the choir from the Salvation Army, other people arrived Thursday to deliver flowers and messages of support for 94-year-old Mandela at the hospital in Pretoria, the South African capital.

Members of the youth league of the country's ruling party, the African National Congress, were planning prayer meetings Thursday to honor the anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

President Jacob Zuma canceled a trip to Mozambique on Thursday in an indication of heightened concern about Mandela, whose health deteriorated last weekend.