South African President Visits Mandela in Hospital President Jacob Zuma has met with South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela this morning. A statement from the presidency Sunday said that Zuma found Mandela "comfortable and in good care." It offered no other details about why Mandela, 94, is receiving medical tests at a Pretoria hospital. South Africa's military has been in charge of medical care for the aging leader since he had a respiratory infection in 2011. Mandela spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule. He became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. He's since retired from public life and is frail.