Mandela discharged from hospital

Mandela, Photo-journalists outside Mandela’s home in Johannesburg and an ambulance that carried him home.
| credits: AFP

Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital in Pretoria where he has been treated for nearly three months, Skynews reports.

“Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable,” the Presidency said, referring to the 95-year-old by his clan name.

Mandela was admitted on June 8 with a recurring lung infection and had previously been in a critical but stable condition, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma.

The government statement added: “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.”

Zuma’s office said the elderly statesman has been treated by “a large medical team from the military, academia, private sector and other public health spheres”.

Sky’s Alex Crawford said: “He’s a few days short of being in intensive care in that hospital in Pretoria for three months… I think many of his close family and friends wanted him home if it was at all possible.”

The presidency requested that Mandela and his family be given “the necessary private space so that his continuing care can proceed with dignity and without unnecessary intrusion”.

The confirmation of Mandela’s release to his home in Johannesburg’s Houghton suburb follows reports that he had been discharged on Saturday.

Mandela spent nearly three decades in prison before being released and being elected South Africa’s first black president in multi-racial elections in 1994 that ended apartheid rule