Let Nelson Mandela rest. This is the message from medical teams monitoring and nursing the former president to recovery.
The 24-hour medical team, led by SA National Defence Force surgeon-general lieutenant-general Veejay Ramlakan, seem to want to limit access to Mandela.
In a statement released by the presidency yesterday, acting president Kgalema Motlanthe appealed for people to afford Mandela and his family space.
“The doctors who are taking care of President Mandela remain concerned about the number of people visiting… The doctors must be allowed to do their work without any undue pressure and in an atmosphere that allows them to carry on with their duties without any disturbance,” Motlanthe said.
Throngs of relatives, politicians and old friends, including ANC veteran Albertina Sisulu, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe and long-time friend Richard Maponya, have all visited the ailing statesman since he was hospitalised on Wednesday.
And in the three days since his discharge to his Houghton, Joburg, home on Friday, the visitors have not stopped.
Yesterday, Sapa reported that at least seven cars had lined up outside the house, including that of Mandela’s grandson Mandla and President Jacob Zuma’s representative in Parliament, Siphiwe Nyanda.
Rivonia Treason Trial accused Andrew Mlangeni also visited Mandela’s bedside.
The medics’ pleas come just days after reports that a turf war among the former president’s family, the government and the Nelson Mandela Foundation created a communications crisis over his hospital stay, which led to heightened anxiety about his health.
Tensions around the communication of Mandela’s condition have yet to be resolved.
Although communication on Friday was handed over to the Presidency, government spokesman Themba Maseko yesterday routed all communication to defence spokesman Simphiwe Dlamini.
“They are handling all communication for now,” Dlamini said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the foundation yesterday responded to a column by The Sunday Independent editor Makhudu Sefara that questioned the communication surrounding the ex-president’s health and the use of the words “routine check-up” to describe Mandela’s acute respiratory infection.
In the column, Sefara accused foundation spokesman Sello Hatang of deliberately misleading the nation.
Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor called it an unwarranted personal attack on Hatang and demanded an apology.
Explaining how the communication was handled, Dangor said Mandela himself used the phrase when he met former president Thabo Mbeki at the Waterkloof airbase, when he was transported from Cape Town by military ambulance last week.
Soon after Mandela arrived at the hospital, his daughter Zindzi called Dangor and urged the foundation to issue a statement.
“She and other members of the family were being inundated with media enquiries. She had just seen her father, and as his medical team had just started their tests, it would be impossible to provide any detailed status on his health.”
The words “routine tests” were then agreed to, Dangor said.
“It was always understood that a more detailed medical bulletin would in due course be issued by the SANDF medical team, which is responsible for Madiba’s healthcare.”
Over the past five years, concerns around Mandela’s health and any admissions to hospital have been a closely guarded secret. - The Star