Former South African President Nelson Mandela was discharged from the hospital Friday after suffering an acute respiratory infection that has responded well to treatment, officials said, according to AP. Surgeon-General Vejaynand Ramlakan told reporters that after about 48 hours in Johannesburg's Milpark Hospital, the 92-year-old anti-apartheid icon would now receive home-based care. «It comes to us this afternoon with great joy to hear that he's been discharged,» said grandson Mandla Mandela. Minutes later, a convoy of security vehicles and a military ambulance left the hospital, carrying Mandela to his home nearby. A dearth of updates since Mandela was admitted Wednesday had led to speculation and concern about his condition. Journalists have been camped outside the hospital and outside his Johannesburg home. Officials said Friday that Mandela's office has received more than 10,000 messages of support and well wishes, including from President Barack Obama. Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, acting president while President Jacob Zuma is traveling abroad, said in retrospect communications should have been better. «Madiba has received similar checkups in the past and it's never raised the same public panic it has now,» Motlanthe said, explaining why officials had not been prepared. Ramlakan, the surgeon general, said Mandela was in stable condition. «Dr. Mandela is in high spirits and has been visited by his family and friends,» Ramlakan said. «Medically, at present, there is no need to panic.» Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his fight against apartheid. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and stepped down after serving one term in 1999. He largely retired from public life in 2004. The public has seen only glimpses of him recently, such as in November, when his office released photos of a private meeting between Mandela and members of the U.S. and South African soccer teams. The teams had just played a match in his honor. Mandela also appeared at the closing ceremony of the World Cup in July, waving to the crowd as he was driven in a small golf cart alongside his wife, Graca Machel. Mandela's first wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had visited him in the hospital Thursday but refused to comment on his condition when she attended a court hearing Friday. Madikizela-Mandela appeared relaxed at the court, which postponed the hearing for a man accused of homicide and drunk driving in a June car crash that killed Mandela's great-grandaughter Zenani, 13, as she was headed home after a World Cup concert.
