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A women gives flowers and a cake to security staff outside Nelson Mandela's home in Johannesburg on September 3, 2013/AFP

Africa

Mandela hospital discharge shows ‘progress’, says Zuma

Mandela has a long history of pulmonary illness and his advanced years may make recovery even more difficult, pulmonologists have warned.

“It’s going to be a difficult process, he has a lot factors stacked up against him,” Elvis Irusen, who heads the department of pulmonology at the University of Stellenbosch, told AFP.

Details of Mandela’s recurring lung infection have been not revealed since he was admitted to hospital on June 8, fuelling speculation about his long term health.

The presidency, in intermittent statements on the Mandela’s health, has largely described his condition as “critical but stable”.

Mandela’s lung problems are said to date back to his years spent in apartheid jails. In 1988, while serving a 27-year prison term, Mandela was diagnosed with early stage tuberculosis.

Two litres of fluid were drained from his chest and he spent six weeks recuperating in hospital.

However, his discharge from hospital brought with it a sigh of relief from ordinary South Africans who have been fervently praying for Mandela’s recovery.

Mandela is admired throughout the world for his lifelong sacrifice in fighting the brutal regime of racial segregation installed with apartheid in 1948.

He is also revered for his role in bringing multiracial democracy to South Africa, a country many feared would disintegrate into civil war following the collapse of apartheid.

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Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, after leading talks that ended white minority rule and put the ruling African National Congress in power.

He only served a single four year term, stepping down in 1999.

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