Mandela returns home, condition remains critical: Govt

Anti-apartheid icon and former South African President Nelson Mandela was on Sunday discharged from a hospital 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. Nevertheless, his team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria,’ Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharajsaid.

The former democracy hero sparked worldwide concern after he was hospitalised on 8 June for a recurring lung infection.

‘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,’ he said.

‘Despite the difficulties imposed by his various illnesses, he, as always, displays immense grace and fortitude,’ Maharaj said.