“During the past few days former President Nelson Mandela has had a recurrence of lung infection,” President Jacob Zuma said in a statement. “This morning at about 1:30 a.m. his condition deteriorated, and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital. He remains in a serious but stable condition.”
Mr. Mandela has had chronic lung problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment for fighting apartheid. He emerged from prison in 1990 to lead the African National Congress in negotiating an end to the white rule, and in 1994 he was elected South Africa’s first black president.
He served just one term, stepping aside in 1999. He has been largely absent from public life since 2004, and was last seen publicly in 2010 during the World Cup, which South Africa hosted.
As Mr. Mandela’s health has deteriorated, an increasingly ugly battle over his legacy and money has erupted, with two of his daughters suing his close confidant George Bizos over access to a trust fund that Mr. Mandela set up for his descendants. Even the African National Congress, the party to which Mr. Mandela dedicated his life, has come under harsh criticism for releasing a video of party leaders visiting the visibly ailing former president.
Comments from South African officials seemed to indicate that this hospitalization was more serious than previous ones. Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the African National Congress, told Britain’s Sky News that the party was “prepared for the worst.”