The bleak assessment of the anti-apartheid icon's health came in papers submitted by his relatives on June 28 as part of legal efforts to retrieve the remains of three of Mandela's children.
"The anticipation of his impending death is based on real and substantial grounds. The applicants are desirous of burying their father and committing him to the earth in which his descendants' remains lie," according to court papers quoted by the Mail & Guardian and other media.
"Nelson Mandela's health is perilous. (An) affidavit will be provided from physicians that he is assisted in breathing by a life support machine," it added.
Mandela, 94, has been in intensive care in a hospital in Pretoria since June 8 when he was admitted with a recurring lung infection.
The presidency has said his condition is "critical but stable" but has released few details of his illness.
