The formal statement on Mr. Mandela's health comes after a weekend report from CBS, citing unnamed sources, that said he received an operation on Friday to unblock a dialysis tube. A spokesman for President Jacob Zuma declined to comment on the report. Read more...
Mr. Mandela was admitted to a private hospital in Pretoria on June 8 to treat a recurring lung infection, one of many he has suffered since contracting tuberculosis during his 27 years in prison, many of those on Robben Island.
Statements from the presidency have remained light on detail since the antiapartheid icon's admittance to hospital. At the end of June, court papers brought by family members regarding a feud over the burial of family remains described the country's first elected black president as being in a "permanent vegetative state," and said his breathing was being assisted by a life-support machine. The presidency denied that Mr. Mandela was in a vegetative state.
Family members have since said Mr. Mandela is showing signs of sustained improvement. Earlier this month, Zindzi Mandela said she saw her father sitting up on the eve of his 95th birthday on July 18.
After serving one term following his 1994 election, Mr. Mandela largely retreated from public life, but family disputes have kept the Mandela name in the spotlight.
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