JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela's condition has not changed after a weekend improvement, the government said on Tuesday, and it denied media reports suggesting the anti-apartheid hero had suffered a relapse in his pneumonia.
"His condition is unchanged as reported yesterday," presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj told Reuters.
Asked about an NBC News report on its web site saying the 94-year-old was still suffering a fluid build-up in his lungs, Maharaj said: "It is unfortunate that there are reports circulating in some media which suggest a deterioration, which is not true."
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was admitted to hospital late on Wednesday for a recurrence of pneumonia and doctors said on Saturday they had drained excess fluid from his lungs and he was breathing without difficulty.
It is the third visit to hospital in four months for Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994. He has not been politically active for about a decade but is still revered at home and abroad for leading the struggle against apartheid rule and championing racial reconciliation.
Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner. He spent 27 years in prison on Robben Island and other jails for his attempts to overthrow the white-minority government.
(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Writing by Ed Stoddard)
