Mandela Hospitalized With Lung Ailment; Wife Visits

Nelson Mandela, the 70-year-old imprisoned leader of the outlawed African National Congress, has been hospitalized with a lung ailment, the South African Press Assn. said Saturday.

Authorities at Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison, where Mandela is serving a life term, transferred the black nationalist leader to Tygerberg Hospital on Friday night suffering from what hospital superintendent J. G. L. Strauss said was fluid around the left lung.

A statement by Strauss on Saturday night said Mandela is “in good shape” and in no pain, amending an earlier bulletin that described his condition as “satisfactory.” Strauss said Mandela told him during an afternoon visit that he was “feeling all right.”

There was no indication how long Mandela will remain hospitalized.

Mandela’s wife, Winnie, their youngest daughter, Zinzi, and family attorney Ismael Ayob flew to Cape Town from Johannesburg on Saturday to see him.

Winnie Mandela “was shocked by his condition; she certainly is concerned,” Ayob told Worldwide Television News after they returned to Johannesburg.

“I’m in a bit of a difficult position because it seems as if the doctors were instructed to say as little as possible to Mrs. Mandela,” Ayob said. “She knows very little about the problem.”

Winnie Mandela made no comment to reporters.

Security police surrounded the hospital and kept journalists out.

Tygerberg Hospital has a reputation as one of the best in South Africa and accepts patients of all races, although blacks and whites are treated in segregated wings.

Strauss’ statement said Mandela, who turned 70 on July 18, was admitted for “medical tests and a left-sided pleural effusion,” which is caused when fluids collect between two membranes covering the lungs. He said later that there are indications Mandela is suffering from pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs, and that he is being treated for that. He said further tests will be conducted.

It was Mandela’s second release from prison in three years for medical treatment. On Nov. 4, 1985, he underwent surgery for the removal of an enlarged prostate.

Mandela, who has been in prison since 1962, is serving a life term for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow South Africa’s government.