South African ex-president de Klerk discharged after lung ailment

Former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk

South African former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner FW de Klerk was discharged from a three-night hospital stay after recovering from a lung ailment, his foundation said on Monday.


De Klerk, 82, was hospitalised over the weekend for treatment of pneumothorax, “an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall”.

“Former President FW de Klerk was discharged from Panorama Mediclinic in Cape Town this afternoon, following a successful procedure on Saturday,” his foundation said in a statement.

De Klerk was South Africa’s last white president, and became a Nobel laureate jointly with his successor, Nelson Mandela, in 1993 for overseeing its transition from apartheid rule.