Former South African President Nelson Mandela is in critical condition. The South African government says the 94 year old's condition is deteriorating. Mandela is being treated at a hospital in Pretoria for a recurring lung infection.

Mandela visited Atlanta in in 1990 as part of a tour of the United States. His first stop in Georgia was to lay a wreath at the crypt of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Former United Nations Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young, who knew Mandela personally, talked to GPB's Ellen Reinhardt about Mandela's legacy .Young says the global icon’s impact continues to reach around the world. “He gives hope to the hopeless. There were very few situations that seemed as hopeless as South Africa in terms of apartheid.”

She asked him what struck him most about Mandela as a man?

Tags: Civil Rights, Andrew Young, South Africa, Nelson Mandela