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JOHANNESBURG: Doctors discharged Nelson Mandela from hospital on Friday after he was successfully treated for breathing difficulties during a two-day stay where he laughed and joked with visitors.
The country's surgeon general told reporters that the anti-apartheid hero had suffered an acute respiratory infection but was now sufficiently well to be treated at home, ending considerable concern about his health.
“He has been discharged,” said Vejaynand Ramlakan, who leads the team of military doctors assigned to care for the former resistance leader who left prison in 1990 and became the country's first black leader four years later.
“Dr Mandela is in high spirits. For a 92-year-old he surprises us on a daily basis with his powers of recovery.
“He is stable, but will be subject to intense monitoring,” Ramlakan added, when asked about the follow-up treatment Mandela would receive.
An ambulance was later seen arriving at the ex-president's home in Houghton in Johannesburg after his family made arrangements for him to return and where scores of neighbours and well-wishers had gathered.
“Our daddy is back,” said Lina Phalane, a 67-year-old maid who works in the same street. “Please God, give him some more days to live with us,” she said.
A security official from the 20-vehicle convoy confirmed that Mandela travelled home in the second of two ambulances in the motorcade.
Speaking at a joint press conference at Milpark hospital in Johannesburg, alongside surgeon general Ramlakan, one of Mandela's grandsons spoke of the family's relief.
“We enjoy having our grandfather around, this afternoon it came as a joy that he was to be discharged,” said Mandla Mandela.
Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe said the ex-South African president was well and had been laughing and joking with visitors.
