Pretoria , South Africa ( CNN ) -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela 's health had declined so sharply last week that his family was considering whether to take him off life support before his condition improved , a court document released Thursday revealed . The document , known as a `` certificate of urgency , '' was filed on June 26 . It stated that the 94-year-old Mandela `` has taken a turn for the worst and that the Mandela family have 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 added . The following day , however , South African President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela 's condition had improved from critical to critical but stable . Mandela remained critical but stable Thursday , Zuma 's office reported after he visited Mandela . It denied reports that Mandela was in a `` vegetative state . '' Considered the founding father of South Africa 's modern democracy , Mandela has been hospitalized in Pretoria since June 8 for a recurring lung infection -- a legacy of his years of imprisonment under South Africa 's now-defunct apartheid regime . Another document filed by his family in a burial dispute described his health as `` perilous '' and stated that fears that his death is drawing near are justified . That affidavit was lodged in court this week as 16 members of Mandela 's family battled his grandson , Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela , also known as Mandla , over where three of the anti-apartheid icon 's deceased children should be buried . Mandla Mandela lost his case Wednesday , which meant the return of the remains of the three relatives to the family graveyard in Qunu , Nelson Mandela 's boyhood home , could go ahead . They were reburied Thursday in the family compound . But the dispute brought a public chiding from another hero of the anti-apartheid cause , retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu . In a statement carried by the South African Press Association late Thursday , Tutu urged the family not to `` besmirch '' Mandela 's name in his last days . `` Please , please , please may we think not only of ourselves . It 's almost like spitting in Madiba 's face , '' Tutu said , using Mandela 's traditional clan name . `` Your anguish , now , is the nation 's anguish -- and the world 's . We want to embrace you , to support you , to shine our love for Madiba through you . '' The remains were removed from the Qunu village cemetery two years ago by Mandla Mandela and then taken to the village of Mvezo . The former South African president was born in Mvezo , but spent his childhood in Qunu . Messages for Nelson Mandela : Hope turns to resignation . The family affidavit lodged at the Mthatha High Court gives new insight into the seriousness of his condition . `` The anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds , '' it reads . `` The applicants are desirous of burying their father and committing him to earth in which his descendants lie , '' the affidavit states . Family members called it `` incontestable '' that Mandela wants his three deceased children reburied . `` The applicants do not want a situation to be created in which Nelson Mandela 's remains are committed to lie in a burial site , entirely alone and forlorn and absent from the remains of his children , '' the affidavit said . The remains buried in Mvezo were found and taken to a mortuary Wednesday , Eastern Cape police said , according to the South African Press Association . Forensic testing was done before the reburial in Qunu to confirm the identities of the bodies , the news agency said . The three are Nelson Mandela 's first daughter , Makaziwe Mandela , who died as a baby in 1948 ; his eldest son , Madiba Thembekile , who died in a car crash in 1969 ; and Makgatho Mandela , father to Mandla , who died in 2005 , the news agency said . Mandla Mandela issued a statement Wednesday saying he would abide by the court decision but continue `` to fight for his right to put on record his side of the story . '' On Thursday , he said his grandfather 's health is the chief issue on his mind , the South African Press Association reported . `` My grandfather continues to be stable while in a critical space , '' he said . `` I want to focus on what matters most , being with my grandfather , ensuring I can be with him at this moment that he needs us most . '' CNN 's Robyn Curnow reported in Pretoria , Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London and Matt Smith wrote from Atlanta . CNN 's Kim Norgaard , Tony Wende and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report .
NEW : Mandelas urges Tutu to cool burial dispute . Mandela 's family had weighed taking him off life support , document states . Court papers filed in a dispute over burials call Tutu 's health `` perilous '' three of Mandela 's deceased children are reburied at his home in Mvezo .