Nelson Mandela discharged from hospital The ambulance carrying Nelson Mandela arrives at his house in Johannesburg Nelson Mandela, the ailing former South African president, has been discharged from the hospital where he spent nearly three months seriously ill after being admitted with a recurring lung infection, the government said on Sunday. The presidency said the revered 95-year-old's condition remains critical "and is at times unstable," but added that his doctors were convinced that he would receive the "same level of intensive care" at his home in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. The healthcare personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital. If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done," the presidency said in a statement. During his stay in hospital from the 8th of June 2013, the condition of our former president vacillated between serious to critical and at times unstable. The frequency of Mr Mandela's recent hospital admissions and the serious and sombre tone used by the government to describe his condition caused many South Africans to fear the worst and reluctantly come to terms with the mortality of the elder statesman described as the "father of the nation." The hospital in Pretoria quickly became a place of pilgrimage as hundreds of people visited the medical centre to display their love and respect for the anti-apartheid icon, creating a montage of get well messages at a wall near its gates. It was his fourth hospital visit since December, by far his longest and accompanied by a swirl of rumours and speculation over the true nature of the condition of the increasingly frail former president. In April, footage of Mr Mandela broadcast on state television showed an old man staring vacantly into the distance with little recognition of what was happening around him as he was visited by President Jacob Zuma and other officials. During his stay in hospital from the 8th of June 2013, the condition of our former president vacillated between serious to critical and at times unstable Government statement Concerns over his health were also marred by bitter disputes between members of his large and often fractious family, most notably a legal battle over the location of family graves in Mr Mandela's rural home in Eastern Cape Province. Mr Mandela, a former liberation fighter who became South Africa's first black president after overseeing the historic transition from white minority rule to democracy, married three times and has six children and 17 grandchildren.. His history of lung problems dates back to 1988 when he suffered from tuberculosis during the 27 years he spent in prison under the apartheid regime. After his release from prison in February 1990, Mr Mandela steered the African National Congress, the liberation movement, to an overwhelming victory at the first democratic election in 1994. The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent the next five years focusing much of his effort on reconciling his divided nation, reassuring white and black people and helping South Africa avoid the bloodshed many had predicted. He stepped down as president in 1999 after serving one term - a rare act among Africa's long list of liberation leaders who took over their countries - and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki. Mr Mandela officially retired from public life in 2004 and has not been involved in day-to-day politics for years.