Anti-apartheid icon and former South African President Nelson Mandela was discharged on Sunday after being treated for three months for a life-threatening lung infection and returned home where the 95-year-old will continue to receive intensive care.
“Former President Nelson Mandela has this morning, 1 September 2013, been discharged from the Pretoria hospital where he has been receiving treatment. We would like to wish him all the best as he continues his recovery at his Johannesburg home,” President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.
The announcement came a day after the Presidency denied reports that Mandela had already been discharged.
“Madiba’s (Mandela’s clan name) condition remains critical and is at times unstable. His team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his home that he received in Pretoria,” Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj said.
“His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there. The health care personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital. If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done, despite the difficulties imposed by his various illnesses, he, as always, displays immense grace and fortitude,” Maharaj said.
Expressing gratitude to the media for “the maturity and understanding that all have in general displayed” during Mandela’s hospitalisation, Maharaj called for all to allow the former President and his family the necessary privacy during his recuperation at home. PTI
Scores of media representatives descended on the streets outside the hospital and at Mandela’s home in the upmarket suburb of Houghton here.
Amid rumours that Mandela was being kept alive through life-support machines ahead of his 95th birthday on July 18, the Presidency issued regular statements about his condition, usually expressing concern that he was critical but stable.
Crowds began gathering outside Mandela’s home, many carrying flowers and messages of goodwill.
“Today officially marks the start of spring in South Africa and we are glad that Madiba has returned home. We pray for him to recover fully soon,” said Bjorn Svenson, a tourist from Sweden, as he placed flowers with his wife and two children at the entrance to the Mandela residence. “During his stay in hospital, the condition of our former President vacillated between serious to critical and at times unstable. He has received full medical support and continues to do so,” the statement said.
Mandela has been hospitalised four times since December for a recurring respiratory illness. In December, he was admitted for 18 days for the treatment of lung infection and surgery to extract gallstones. It was his longest stint in hospital since his release from prison in 1990.
In March, Mandela was admitted for an overnight scheduled check-up before returning that month for 10-days.
The elderly statesman had a long history of lung problems, dating back to the time when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island during apartheid. While in jail he contracted tuberculosis.
He is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then pushing reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
Mandela, regarded the founding father of South Africa’s multiracial democracy, served as the country’s first black president from 1994 to 1999. He left power after five years as president. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He retired from public life in 2004 and has rarely been seen at official events since.