Mandela ‘sufficiently well to be home’

Former President Nelson Mandela

Former president Nelson Mandela was doing well after being discharged from hospital, although he was not fully recovered, said government spokesperson Mac Maharaj.

“He is not yet fully recovered, but he has sufficiently moved forward so that he can be discharged,” Maharaj told eNCA.

“He is sufficiently well to be home.”

The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader and Nobel peace prize laureate was discharged from hospital yesterday, ending a three-week stay, during which he was treated for a lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones.

Mandela, who has been in frail health for several years, is now receiving care at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

Mandela has a history of lung problems dating to when he contracted tuberculosis while in jail as a political prisoner. He spent 27 years in prison, including 18 years on Robben Island.

The former president was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on December 8. This was his longest stay in a hospital since he was released from prison in 1990.

President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela on Christmas Day and said the former leader was doing much better, making progress and in good spirits.

Mandela was also admitted to a hospital in February because of abdominal pain, but he was released the following day after a keyhole examination showed there was nothing seriously wrong with him.

He has spent most of his time since then in another home in Qunu, his ancestral village in the impoverished Eastern Cape.

- Reuters