South Africa: Mandela discharged from hospital

AAA??Mar. 10, 2013?10:54 AM ET
South Africa: Mandela discharged from hospital
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIABy CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press??

FILE - In this May 11, 1999 file photo, South African President Nelson Mandela, is photographed in Cape Town, South Africa. Mandela, the former South African president and anti-apartheid leader, was admitted to a hospital on Saturday, March 9, 2013, for a scheduled medical check-up and doctors say there is no cause for "alarm," the president's office said. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this May 11, 1999 file photo, South African President Nelson Mandela, is photographed in Cape Town, South Africa. Mandela, the former South African president and anti-apartheid leader, was admitted to a hospital on Saturday, March 9, 2013, for a scheduled medical check-up and doctors say there is no cause for "alarm," the president's office said. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - May 16, 2011 file photo supplied by the South African Government Communications and Information Services, GCIS, showing former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela was admitted to a hospital on Saturday March 9 2013 for a scheduled medical check-up and doctors say there is no cause for "alarm," the president's office said. Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said 94-year-old Mandela went in the afternoon for tests "to manage existing conditions in line with his age" at a hospital in Pretoria. (AP Photo/Elmond Jiyane-GCIS, File)

FILE - This Dec. 11, 2012 shows a mural depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela in Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg. Mandela was admitted to a hospital on Saturday, March 9 2013, for a scheduled medical check-up and doctors say there is no cause for "alarm," the president's office said. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

Children play beneath a giant statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela, center back, on Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Mandela, spent a night in a hospital after he was admitted for scheduled tests, the presidency said Sunday. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

A homeless man walks past a mural depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela, top left, in the city of Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, March 10, 2013. South Africa's presidency says Nelson Mandela has spent a night in the hospital after he was admitted for tests. Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Sunday there were no updates on 94-year-old Mandela's condition since he went to a hospital in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon. The full graffiti mural is numbers depicting history in the decades 90's 80's 70's. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela left a hospital after "successful" medical tests and returned to his home in Johannesburg on Sunday, the spokesman for South Africa's president said.

The former president and anti-apartheid leader was admitted to a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, on Saturday.

"The doctors have completed the tests," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement. "He is well and as before, his health remains under the management of the medical team."

Maharaj appealed to the public and media to respect the privacy of 94-year-old Mandela and his family.

The African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, had earlier released a statement saying it believed Mandela was in "capable and competent hands."

Mandela, who has become increasingly frail in recent years, was hospitalized for nearly three weeks in December. At that time, he was treated for a lung infection and had a surgical procedure to remove gallstones.

Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, Mandela spent 27 years in prison before he was released in 1990. He became the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 under the banner of the African National Congress. He served one five-year term before retiring.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-10-South%20Africa-Mandela/id-6157fbb270e04391abf56f3bb914d2ed

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