Nelson Mandela Discharged from Hospital Today

Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital in Pretoria where he has been treated for nearly three months, Skynews reports.

“Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable,” the Presidency said, referring to the 95-year-old by his clan name.

Mandela was admitted on June 8 with a recurring lung infection and had previously been in a critical but stable condition, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma.

The government statement added: “His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there.

“The health care personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital.

“If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done.”

Zuma’s office said the elderly statesman has been treated by “a large medical team from the military, academia, private sector and other public health spheres”.

Nelson Mandela Celebrates 95th Birthday in Hospital Today

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

BBC reports:

Nelson Mandela is spending his 95th birthday in hospital in Pretoria, as events take place around the world and in South Africa in his honour.

South Africans are being urged to match the former president and anti-apartheid leader’s 67 years of public service with 67 minutes of charitable acts.

Mr Mandela, who is in critical but stable condition with a recurring lung infection, entered hospital on 8 June.

President Jacob Zuma said his health was "steadily improving".

"We are proud to call this international icon our own as South Africans and wish him good health,” Mr Zuma said in a statement.

"We thank all our people for supporting Madiba throughout the hospitalisation with undying love and compassion,” he said, referring to Mandela’s clan name.

Mr Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, said on Wednesday he had made "dramatic progress", and that she had found him watching television with headphones on and communicating with his eyes and hands when she visited him this week.

"I should think he will be going home anytime soon," she told the UK’s Sky News television.

Mr Mandela’s birthday is also Nelson Mandela International Day, a day declared by the UN as a way to recognise the Nobel Prize winner’s contribution to reconciliation.

The former statesman is revered across the world for his role in ending apartheid in South Africa. He went on to become the first black president in the country’s first all-race elections in 1994.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said that on this Mandela Day homage was being paid to 95 years of "life well-lived", dedicated to the liberation of South Africans and people all over the world.