Nelson Mandela has been admitted to a hospital for a scheduled medical check-up, South Africa’s presidency says. A spokesman for President Jacob Zuma said there was “no need for panic” and that doctors were treating Mandela for a pre-existing condition consistent with his age. Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement that 94-year-old Mandela went to a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, on Saturday afternoon, without revealing any more details about the condition of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader. It is Mandela’s second period of hospital treatment in less than three months. He was hospitalised for nearly three weeks in December before going home on Decemeber 26. At that time, he was treated for a lung infection and had a surgical procedure to remove gallstones. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner. He spent 27 years in prison, including 18 years on the windswept Robben Island off Cape Town.
