World watches ailing Madiba

The Presidency yesterday released its most detailed account to date of former president Nelson Mandela's medical condition, saying that he was "comfortable".

Mandela last night spent a fourth night in hospital, where he is receiving treatment for pneumonia.

Mac Maharaj, speaking on behalf of President Jacob Zuma, said that Mandela, who turns 95 in July, developed "a pleural effusion, which was tapped".

This procedure refers to drainage of an abnormal amount of fluid around the lungs. The drainage is performed with a hollow needle that is inserted between the patient's ribs.

Maharaj said: "This has resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty. He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable."

The hero of the anti-apartheid struggle has been hospitalised several times since December owing to recurring lung infections.

As the world held its breath over Mandela's health, Zuma acknowledged this week that it was deteriorating.

He was quoted as saying that when an elderly person dies, "people will say he or she has gone home".

"I think those are some of the things that we should be thinking about. I know that we would want Madiba with us for a long time," Zuma said.

World leaders, celebrities and ordinary people all sent their best wishes to Madiba.

US President Barack Obama was receiving constant updates on his condition.

Obama said: "When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. And so we wish him all the very best."

Local and international media this week again camped outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela is being treated, as well as outside his home in Houghton.

Several international television networks set up camp with generators and satellite dishes, waiting for news on his condition .

Maharaj said earlier that Mandela ate a "full breakfast" on Friday and appeared to be in good spirits.

In December, Mandela spent 18 days in hospital, also for treatment for his lungs. Doctors took the opportunity to conduct a gallstone operation.

At the beginning of March, he spent one night in hospital for what the Presidency said was a "routine" check-up.

BBC staff, who went on strike yesterday, said that they were prepared to return to their desks if Mandela died.

Union leaders declared that in "the sad event of his death and for BBC news coverage of that story only", staff would postpone the strike.

However, when the strikers were asked whether the ailing Lady Thatcher, the scourge of the unions in the 1980s, would be treated in the same manner, there was a marked change of approach.

The broadcasting and entertainment union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists said simply that they had not considered what they would do in the event of the 87-year-old former prime minister's untimely death.