Nelson Mandela Unable to Talk, Uses Facial Expressions to Communicate: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Says

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is still in a serious condition but not on life support as some claim, according to his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. However, the 95-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner is unable to talk and uses facial expressions instead to communicate.

Mandela spent nearly three months in hospital earlier this year and has been recovering at home since September. The South African government has described his condition as critical and sometimes unstable. Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection.

He remains very sensitive to any germs, so he has to be kept literally sterile. The bedroom there (in his suburban Johannesburg home) is like an ICU ward," Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told theSunday Independent.

"He is 95 years old and it is difficult for him, because of all the tubes that are in his mouth to clear the (fluid from his) lungs, and prevent an infection recurring." Because of those tubes, she said, he communicates through his face.

"But the doctors have told us they hope he will be able to recover his voice," she said, adding that he is being treated by 22 doctors at his home.

>Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Nelson Mandela divorced in 1996 but remain close to him and she visits him regularly. Madikizela-Mandela denied any reports that Mandela is on life support. "I have heard this nonsense that he is on life support. He is not," she said.

She went on to say it's important Mandela is recovering at home "in an atmosphere he recognizes" and not in a hospital.

"When he is very relaxed, he is fine and it has given us a lot of hope," she said.