Pretoria – A patient transport vehicle escorted by blue light vehicles left a Pretoria hospital on Saturday afternoon where former President Nelson Mandela was believed to be admitted.
The vehicle with tinted windows was escorted by three black BMW X5 SUVs with blue lights and sirens.
Hospital security guards closed off the street outside the hospital to allow the vehicles to leave.
Earlier deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe was seen leaving the same hospital.
Motlanthe was seen getting into his car inside the hospital premises just before 3pm.
His spokesman Thabo Masebe said the deputy president was at the hospital for an appointment.
“He was there to see a doctor,” he said.
When asked if Motlanthe was there to see Mandela Masebe said: “I don't know if he saw him, but he had an appointment there at 2pm.”
Early on Saturday morning presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was admitted due to a recurring lung infection.
“This morning at about 1.30am his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital,” Maharaj said in a statement.
“He remains in a serious but stable condition.”
He said doctors were doing everything they could to make Mandela “better and comfortable”.
“President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of government and the nation, wishes Madiba a speedy recovery and requests the media and the public to respect the privacy of Madiba and his family,” Maharaj said.
A large contingency of local and international media were stationed outside the hospital since Saturday morning.
Photographers and journalists were monitoring cars entering and exiting the hospital.
There was no security apart from the normal hospital guard stationed outside the building.
On April 6, Mandela was discharged from hospital after spending nine days receiving treatment for recurring lung problems. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has suffered lung ailments before.
Early in March, he was admitted to a Pretoria hospital for a scheduled check-up and was discharged the following day.
In December last year, Mandela underwent an operation to remove gallstones and treat the recurring lung infection. He was discharged after an 18-day stay and placed under home-based high care at his Houghton home.
In January, the presidency said Mandela had made a full recovery from the surgery and continued to improve. In February last year he was admitted to hospital for a stomach ailment.
At the time, the presidency said Mandela underwent a diagnostic procedure to investigate the cause of a long-standing abdominal complaint.
In January 2011, Mandela was taken to Milpark Hospital for routine tests relating to respiratory problems.
Mandela's last major public appearance was in July 2010, at the final of the Fifa World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.
Since then he had spent his time between Johannesburg and his ancestral village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape. – Sapa