Nelson Mandela Discharged from Hospital

Nelson Mandela

By Zacheaus Somorin, with agency reports

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, has been discharged from hospital following a scheduled medical check-up and “is doing well,” South Africa’s presidency said Sunday. “The doctors have completed the tests. He is well and as before, his health remains under the management of the medical team,” it said in a statement. A spokesman for the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, said there was “no need for panic,” and that the doctors had treated Mandela for a pre-existing condition consistent with his age.

Presidential spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said in a statement that 94-year-old Mandela went to a hospital in Pretoria, the country’s capital, on Saturday afternoon, without revealing any more details about the condition of the anti-apartheid leader.

It is Mandela’s second period of hospital treatment in less than three months.

He was hospitalised for nearly three weeks in December before going home on December 26.

At that time, he was treated for a lung infection and had a surgical procedure to remove gallstones.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner.

He spent 27 years in prison, including 18 years on the windswept Robben Island off Cape Town, according to Aljazeera.

He became president of Africa’s biggest economy in 1994 after the first all-race elections brought an end to white-minority apartheid rule.

Mandela’s hospitalisation has been consistent in recent time thus causing fear among South Africans. According to officials, it has usually been on routine checkup. “Doctors are conducting tests and have thus far indicated that there is no reason for any alarm,” according to a statement from the presidential office in December, last year.

In January, Mandela completed his recovery from a lung infection and gallstone surgery and gradually returned to his normal routine, officials said.

Mandela, who has not appeared in public since 2010, had continued receiving treatment at his home in Houghton, a suburb of Johannesburg.

Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in early December and a week later underwent surgery to remove gallstones.

He was discharged from the hospital after a two-week stay. During the time of apartheid in South Africa, Mandela was convicted of sabotage and was imprisoned for 27 years and freed in 1990.

He and former President F.W. de Klerk, who dismantled apartheid, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. A year later, Mandela became the nation’s first black president. In November last year, South Africa issued banknotes bearing Mandela’s picture, possibly in fearful expectation of his sudden demise.

Despite his rare public appearances in recent years, Mandela retains his popularity and is considered a hero of democracy in the country.

Mandela’s impact has extended far beyond the borders of his own country. After he left office in 1999, he was involved in mediating in conflicts from Africa to the Middle East.

He has been admitted to hospital on three occasions in the past two years.

During his latest stay in hospital, President Zuma at one point described his condition as “serious,” but added that he was responding to treatment.