Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, who travelled to his Eastern Cape home at the weekend, was doing “very well” health-wise, the presidency said on Monday.
“He has recovered very well and I think the medical team has done very well,” Kodwa said after it was announced that Mandela had travelled to Qunu at the weekend.
Asked how long he would stay at his Qunu home, Kodwa replied: “He has gone home, so we can't say how long he's going to be home.
“Any person can go home to rest with the family for whatever reason. He has gone home.
“He can stay there for a while or he can be there for a short while.”
Kodwa said President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela the day before local government elections last week.
“The president had lunch with him. He [Mandela] was up. He has recovered well.”
The presidency issued a statement on Monday to say that Mandela was “spending some time resting at his home in Qunu in the Eastern Cape”.
This was part of a “normal, scheduled visit”.
He was accompanied by family and medical and security personnel.
“We are pleased that he is now well enough to travel,” Zuma said.
The presidency thanked the media for “granting him privacy in the last three months” and urged them to continue to do so.
Mandela was admitted to the Milpark Hospital, in Johannesburg, for two-and-a-half days in January for a respiratory infection.
Last Monday, he was pictured smiling while casting an early ballot in the local government elections.
The Times newspaper reported that he arrived at Mthatha Airport on Sunday in a medical military aircraft before being transported to a military ambulance.
His grandson Mandla Mandela and other family members welcomed him at home.
The head of clinical services at the SA National Defence Force, Zola Dabula, who is a member of his medical team, was also at the airport, The Times wrote. - Sapa