Nelson Mandela remains very ill and still cannot speak

Though the pneumonia has cleared away, the anti-apartheid  leader is still unable to speak for the tubes that remain in his throat to  remove excess fluid from his lungs.

“I have heard all this nonsense that he  is on life support. He is not. He remains quite ill. But thank God, the doctors  were able to pull him through from that infection that landed him in hospital  for more than two months earlier this year,” claims Mandela’s ex-wife of 38 years.

The former South African president has  spent the better part of this year in and out of the hospital due to respiratory  complications believed to have originated from the 27 years he spent  incarcerated on Robben Island for his role in the anti-apartheid movement.   In 1988, while still in prison, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was  transferred to a hospital in Stellenbosch where two liters of fluid were drained  from his respiratory system. 

Though he eventually recovered and went  on to become South Africa’s first black president in 1994, he continued to have  complications throughout his life that have only worsened with age.  Now, at 95  years old, his lungs have become ultra sensitive and highly prone to infection. 

He has been to the hospital multiple  times this year and was even deemed “critically ill” back in September when he  opted to have his home converted into a “private intensive care unit” where 22 doctors are currently  monitoring him. 

News of his condition have remained  sporadic since relocating to the privacy of his home for recovery, but members  of his family claim to have a restored sense of hope after nearly giving up on  him months ago.