Mandela Remains Hospitalized As Questions Grow
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Where is Nelson Mandela?
As the 94-year-old patriarch of South Africa's democracy entered his seventh day of hospitalization Friday for a recurring lung infection, confusion grew as government officials appeared to contradict themselves over where he is being treated.
With the government refusing to say where Mandela is, concern grew across this nation of 50 million people about the health of the anti-apartheid icon.
Mandela, admitted Saturday to a hospital, was thought to have been at 1 Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, after Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she visited the leader there Monday. But when local media reported that Mandela wasn't at that hospital Thursday night, presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to give the whereabouts of the ailing politician.
"President Mandela is being treated at a Pretoria hospital as said from the first statement we issued," Maharaj said. "We have refrained from disclosing the hospital in order to ensure privacy and also to allow doctors space to do their work of caring for (him) without interruptions or undue pressure."
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