Mandela granddaughter ‘not worried’ about his hospital stay

Nelson Mandela’s oldest granddaughter said Saturday she was not worried about the South African icon’s hospitalisation as the 93-year-old had been “in perfect health” earlier this week.

“I don’t see it as a big thing. He’s in perfect health. When I saw him on Wednesday, he was in good spirits, in perfect health, and, you know, the epitome of health really for a man of his age,” Ndileka Mandela told AFP.

“I’m not worried. I mean grandad rebounded from his illness last year. I don’t see any reason why this should be any different.”

Mandela was admitted to an undisclosed hospital on Saturday with a long-standing abdominal complaint.

“I spent my birthday with him on Wednesday, he was in good spirits and he was teasing me about how old I am,” said Mandela who was born in 1965 to her famous grandfather’s first child.

The visit was full of banter and Mandela was reading papers, she added.

“We have this long standing banter with him and I always say ‘hi handsome, how are you today?’ He loves it and he was just really in good spirits.”

“He hasn’t lost it one bit,” she added about her grandfather’s famous sense of humour.

Mandela did not want to divulge where her grandfather was being treated and said any details about his health would come from South Africa’s surgeon-general or the presidency. She said she did not know how long his stay would be.

His wife Graca Machel and members of the family were with him, she said.