Mandela May Not Be Sent Back to Prison, South African Official Hints

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Black nationalist leader Nelson R. Mandela may not be sent back to prison when he is discharged from the hospital, South Africa’s Information Minister Stoffel van der Merwe said on Thursday.

Van der Merwe, briefing foreign reporters, was asked whether Mandela could soon leave the hospital.

“If he’s not in need of immediate treatment any more, it becomes logical to move him somewhere else,” he replied.

“Whether that would be inside Pollsmoor (Prison) or outside Pollsmoor remains to be seen,” he said.

Mandela was taken to Tygerberg hospital from Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison on Aug. 12 suffering from tuberculosis.

Doctors say the 70-year-old leader of the outlawed African National Congress, who was jailed for life in 1964 for plotting to overthrow white-minority rule, is recovering well.

Van der Merwe refused to comment on prospects for Mandela’s release, saying the situation is “fluid and very delicate.”

South African President Pieter W. Botha said last week that he did not think it wise for Mandela “to choose to go back to prison”--a hint that he could be freed if he agreed to certain conditions. Mandela has rejected previous conditional offers of release.