Mandela returns home

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

Nelson Mandela went home in an ambulance yesterday after nearly three months in a hospital that became the focus of a global outpouring of concern, but authorities said the health of the former South African president remained critical and sometimes unstable.

The return of the 95-year-old leader of the anti-apartheid movement to his home in an affluent neighbourhood of Johannesburg allows his family to share time with him in a more intimate setting.

The office of South African President Jacob Zuma said Mandela will receive the same level of intensive care that he did in the hospital, administered by the same doctors.

home care

Zuma's office said the team of doctors treating Mandela, also known by his clan name Madiba, is "convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria. His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there."The statement also said: "If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done."

One of Mandela's daughters, Makaziwe Mandela, told The Associated Press as she left her father's home that the family was "happy that he is home".

Another Mandela family member, grandson Mandla Mandela, said the former president's return home was a "day of celebration".