Former South African President Nelson Mandela is hale and hearty, the Presidency Spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said this in a statement on Saturday.
The correspondent reports that the statement?issued in johannesburg, became inevitable to quell?rumours on?Mandela's?health.
“The presidency had received calls from?media houses enquiring about the health of former President Mandela.
“The former president is in good health, good spirits and enjoying the festive season at his home in Qunu in the Eastern Cape,’’ Maharaj said in the statement.
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The spokesman said that the?end of the year news review by a media house might have caused the rumours.
“It appears that an end of year review done by a media house may have unfortunately triggered a rumour of ill-health.
“President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of the government and the people of South Africa wishes Madiba a very happy and successful 2012.’’
In January, Mandela was treated for a respiratory infection at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
eNews, a privately-own cable television network, in a review of the 2011 big stories, carried a footage of Mandela being taken to hospital in Johannesburg in January 2011.
Some of the viewers who saw the footage and thought that Mandela had taken ill again, trooped to the hospital, only to be informed by the hospital management that the former president was not on admission at the hospital.??
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