South African former President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from a hospital where he spent two nights. Surgeon General Vejaynand Ramlakan said Mr Mandela, 92, was suffering from ailments that were common in people his age but was in good spirits.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe – using Mr Mandela’s clan name – said: “Madiba is well.”
South Africa’s liberation hero flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Wednesday for a check-up. Friends and family visited him amid tight security at Milpark hospital on Thursday.
On Friday Mr Ramlakan said Mr Mandela had suffered a respiratory infection, but was responding well to treatment and would be receiving home-based care. “To us he is stable, but will be subject to intense monitoring,” he told reporters.
“Medically, at present, there is no need to panic,” he added. After Mr Mandela’s discharge, an ambulance surrounded by a police convoy drove him towards his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton.
During South Africa’s apartheid regime Mr Mandela was jailed for 27 years. While imprisoned at Robben Island he had tuberculosis. He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and stepped down after one term in 1999. Correspondents say he has seemed increasingly frail since retiring from public life in 2004.
His last public appearance was at the football World Cup closing ceremony last July.