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| FILE - In this June 17, 2010 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The South African presidency says Nelson Mandela was re-admitted to hospital with a recurrence of a lung infection Thursday March 28, 2013. |
JOHANNESBURG
(AP) -- Nelson Mandela was back in the hospital for the third time in
four months Thursday, and the 94-year-old former South African president
was reported to be responding well to treatment for a chronic lung
infection.
South Africa's presidency said that
doctors were acting with extreme caution because of the advanced age of
the anti-apartheid leader, who has become increasingly frail in recent
years.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was
admitted just before midnight to a hospital in Pretoria, the South
African capital. He has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory
problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment
for fighting white racist rule in his country.
"The
doctors advise that former President Nelson Mandela is responding
positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung
infection," the presidency said in a statement. "He remains under
treatment and observation in hospital."
Mandela,
who became South Africa's first black president in 1994, is a revered
figure in his homeland, which has named buildings and other places after
him and uses his image on national bank notes.
"I'm
so sorry. I'm sad," Obed Mokwana, a Johannesburg resident, said after
hearing that Mandela was back in the hospital. "I just try to pray all
the time. He must come very strong again."
In
December, Mandela spent three weeks in a hospital in Pretoria, where he
was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove
gallstones.
Earlier this month, he was hospitalized overnight for what authorities said was a successful scheduled medical test.
Presidential
spokesman Mac Maharaj, referring to Mandela by his clan name "Madiba,"
said the latest stay was not for previously planned treatment.
"No,
this wasn't scheduled. As you will appreciate the doctors do work with a
great sense of caution when they are treating Madiba and take into
account his age," he said. "And so when they found that this lung
infection had reoccurred, they decided to have him immediately
hospitalized so that he can receive the best treatment."
He said there had been a global outpouring of messages expressing concern for Mandela's health.
President Jacob Zuma wished Mandela a speedy recovery.
"We
appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our
beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts. We
have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do
everything possible to ensure recovery," his office quoted him as
saying.
In February 2012, Mandela spent a
night in a hospital for minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause
of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, he was admitted to a
Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests
but turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged
days later.
He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.
The
apartheid government released Mandela in 1990. Four years later, he
became the nation's first democratically elected president under the
banner of the African National Congress, helping to negotiate a
relatively peaceful end to apartheid despite fears of much greater
bloodshed. He served one five-year term as president before retiring.
Perceived
successes during Mandela's tenure include the introduction of a
constitution with robust protections for individual rights and the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that heard testimony about
apartheid-era violations of human rights as a kind of national therapy
session.
Mandela last made a public appearance on a major stage when South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
Until
his latest string of health problems, Mandela had spent more time in
the rural village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province, where he grew up. He
was visited there in August by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton.
Doctors said in December that
he should remain at his home in Johannesburg to be close to medical
facilities that can provide the care he needs.
