South African anti-apartheid veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has been hospitalised for a kidney infection but is expected to make a full recovery, the Times Live online news site said on Tuesday.

Times Live, quoting her spokesman Victor Dlamini, said the 81-year-old had complained of a “loss of appetite” and that “one of her legs was painful”.

She was taken to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg on Sunday.
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“Upon admission‚ it was discovered that she had an infection that had affected her kidneys.

“She is expected to make a full recovery and should spend approximately a week at the hospital‚” Dlamini was quoted as saying in a statement on Tuesday night.

Madikizela-Mandela’s personal assistant, Zodwa Zwane, directed all queries to Dlamini, who was not immediately available for comment.

Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, has been in and out of hospital since 2016 for back and knee surgery.

During her ex-husband’s 27-year imprisonment for his fight against apartheid, Madikizela-Mandela campaigned for his release and the rights of black South Africans, undergoing arrest and banishment.

White minority rule ended in 1994.

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