Residents in the remote Cape village of Qunu said on Thursday (June 27) that they were immensely grateful to Nelson Mandela as they reacted to news that his condition had worsened and that President Jacob Zuma had cancelled an official trip out of the country.

Workers were seen at the Mandela gravesite building a wall. No one confirmed why this was.

A report in the South African daily newspaper City Press said the Qunu chief had confirmed that a family meeting held here last Tuesday (June 25) had discussed whether or not to return three of Mandela's relatives to this graveyard after his grandson, Mandla Mandela, had moved them to the nearby village of Mvezo.

City Press said the chief had granted permission to exhume the remains of Mandela's son and his siblings from Mvezo to be reburied in Qunu.

Workers were also seen building a road on the side of Mandela's house.

Presented by Adam Justice