Nelson Mandela Released from Hospital

JOHANNESBURG —  Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been discharged from a Pretoria hospital after being treated for pneumonia. An official from the president’s office says the anti-apartheid icon will get constant medical supervision.

Nelson Mandela spent nine nights in the hospital for this last episode, before being discharged Saturday.

Officials said he was admitted suddenly after suffering a recurrence of a lung infection. He was treated for pneumonia, and President Jacob Zuma visited him earlier this week and said he had made steady improvement.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela will now get round-the-clock care at home. Like many South Africans, he referred to Mandela by his clan name, Madiba.

"We are delighted to inform you that the former president, Nelson Mandela, has been discharged from hospital today, the 6th of April, following sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition," he said. "The former president will now receive home-based high care. President Zuma thanks the hard-working medical team and the hospital staff for looking after Madiba so efficiently. He also extends his gratitude to all South Africans and friends of the republic in Africa and around the world, for all of their support."

Officials have noted that the 94-year-old icon has become increasingly frail. He is known to suffer from a variety of ailments - some of them contracted during his nearly three decades in prison.

But Maharaj said Mandela’s legendary spirit was undaunted by this last hospital stay.

"From the time he was hospitalized he was fully conscious, aware, talking. He said that he was in discomfort, there was an infection that had to be treated. And he had developed a pleural effusion which had to be tapped, but that did not stop his spirit from being conscious at all times," said Maharaj.

Mandela had also been in the hospital earlier in March. He spent 18 days in a hospital for a lung infection and gallstones in December. Before that, he was previously admitted to a Johannesburg hospital in January 2011 for an acute respiratory infection. He also tested positive for tuberculosis in 1988, during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting racist white rule.

Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping bring an end to apartheid. He stepped down from the presidency in 1999.

Mandela has made increasingly few public appearances in the last few years. He retired from public life in 2004.