8 Jun 2013

Nelson Mandela ‘serious but stable’ in hospital

The former South African president, Nelson Mandela, is in hospital after a recurrence of his lung infection.

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Nelson Mandela, aged 94, was taken to a Pretoria hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Mac Maharaj, a government spokesman, said he was transferred there after his condition “deteriorated”.

He said: “What I am told by doctors is that he is breathing on his own and I think that is a positive sign.”

Mr Mandela was admitted into hospital at 1.30am local time and was later transferred to Pretoria, where remains “in a serious but stable condition.”

“The former president is receiving expert medical care and doctors are doing everything possible to make him better and comfortable,” Mr Maharaj added.

“President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of government and the nation, wishes Madiba a speedy recovery and requests the media and the public to respect the privacy of Madiba and his family.”

Meanwhile Prime Minister David Cameron has given his support to Mr Mandela on Twitter.

“My thoughts are with Nelson Mandela, who is in hospital in South Africa,” he wrote this morning.

Graca Machel cancels London engagement

Mr Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, was due to address the Nutrition for Growth meeting in London today.

But her name was removed from the provisional list of speakers with organisers saying she had to cancel “for personal reasons”.

Mr Maharaj said Mr Mandela’s family were with him and had accompanied him to hospital.

Latest hospital visit

Since his withdrawal from public life, Mr Mandela has divided his time between his Johannesburg home and Qunu, the village in the impoverished Eastern Cape where he was born and spent his early years.

The anti-apartheid leader became president in South Africa’s all-race elections in 1994. His health has been failing in recent years and he was last in hospital in March this year.

Before that Mandela spent nearly three weeks in hospital in December with a lung infection and after surgery to remove gallstones. That was his longest stay in hospital since his release from prison in 1990 after serving almost three decades behind bars or on the Robben Island prison camp near Cape Town for conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government.

His history of lung problems dates back to his years on Robben Island, where he contracted tuberculosis.