Nelson Mandela has left
hospital and has gone to his Johannesburg home, where he is continuing
to receive intensive care, the South African presidency says on its
website.
The announcement came a day after officials denied reports that the 95-year-old had already been discharged.
The statement says his condition remains critical and at times unstable.
South Africa's first democratically elected president has been in hospital since June with a lung infection.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is revered
around the world for leading the fight against white minority rule and
preaching reconciliation with the white community despite being
imprisoned for 27 years.
"His team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the
same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in
Pretoria [hospital]," the statement from President Jacob Zuma's says.
It adds that Mr Mandela's home in the suburb of Houghton has
been "reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there" and he
will be treated by the same health care personnel who have been looking
after him since 8 June.
If necessary, he will be readmitted to hospital, the presidency says.
Despite his various illnesses, the statement from Mr Zuma's
office notes, the former president had displayed "immense grace and
fortitude".
The South African government has released few details about
his condition, appealing for Mr Mandela's privacy and dignity to be
respected.
The BBC's Andrew Harding in South Africa says this is not the
discharge of a man who has made a significant recovery but the transfer
of a patient from an intensive care ward in a hospital to a specially
built intensive care unit in his own home, presumably in line with his
family's wishes.
But he notes that some people will take some
encouragement from the fact that his doctors have said he was fit enough
to make the 55km-journey (34 miles) and says such a decision will not
have been taken lightly.
"It is a day of celebration for us, that he is finally back home with us," said his grandson Mandla Mandela.
On Saturday, sources close to Mr Mandela told the BBC and other international media that he had already returned home.
This was denied by South Africa's presidency, which handles all communications about the former leader's health.
Mr Mandela's lung condition is said to result
from the tuberculosis he contracted during the 27 years he spent in
prison for taking up arms against white minority rule.
He is been hospitalised four times in the past year and his latest stay lasted 84 days.
He became president after 1994 elections - the first time
black South Africans were allowed to vote - and stepped down five years
later.
His last public appearance was at the 2010 football World Cup, which South Africa hosted.
BBC
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