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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. Mandela was released Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. |
JOHANNESBURG
(AP) -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released
Wednesday from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and
having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said.
The 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon will continue to receive medical care at home.
Mandela
had been in the hospital since Dec. 8. In recent days, officials have
said he was improving and in good spirits, but doctors have taken
extraordinary care with his health because of his age.
Mandela
was released Wednesday evening and will receive "home-based high care"
at his residence in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton until he
fully recovers, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj.
"We
thank the public and the media for the good wishes and for according
Madiba and the family the necessary privacy," said Maharaj in a
statement, using Mandela's clan name, a term of affection. The statement
requested that Mandela's privacy continue to be respected "in order to
allow for the best possible conditions for full recovery."
David
Phetoe, a resident of the Johannesburg township of Soweto, reacted with
joy when he heard that Mandela was no longer in a hospital.
"It's
not always the case, when people offer great expectations, that those
expectations are fulfilled," he said. "In this case, we say in the same
tone, in the Christmas mood and in the Christmas season, let him stick
around for a while!"
Mandela is revered around
the world as a symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation, his legacy
forged in the fight against apartheid, the system of white minority rule
that imprisoned him for 27 years.
The Nobel
laureate served one five-year term as president after South Africa's
first democratic elections in 1994. Although the country today struggles
with poverty and inequality, Mandela is widely credited with helping to
avert race-driven chaos as South Africa emerged from apartheid.
South
African President Jacob Zuma was among those who joined Mandela's wife,
Graca Machel, and other family members in wishing a Merry Christmas to
Mandela at his hospital bedside in Pretoria, the South African capital.
"I
think he is an icon of hope and we are very excited" that Mandela is
out of the hospital, said Sipho Sibiko, a Soweto resident. "I personally
know that he is one of the people that inspired me. He inspires a lot
of people and we are excited that he has been released. We wish him many
more joyous years and good health."
