![FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 file photo former president Nelson Mandela, left, and his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, right, during the unveiling of a statue of Mandela at the Drakenstein Prison near Franschhoek, South Africa. Madikizela-Mandela told a South African newspaper published Sunday Nov. 17, 2013, that Mandela, remains "quite ill" and unable to speak because of tubes that are keeping his lungs clear of fluid, though he is relaxed. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam-File)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s9PErX20ly_WBYvSitiGnQqsrzJiHw0S2QFjIPVaMwSMD0KNJO027U78b5WexS6LoaR_ofOAKTygFYML7iBB2UUcec-UjZTh_CBvIokSsRkg53Trs7kaVEAvbTDk7djPQG179mwduhcO-pzk22ivr_4TA2mnKY4qQUTM3iIScUqumcKli6Zd3gaJVbTsg1ZSOc3Ns89upa2pqEHpBRVHsWn9jW_gQ1QmmOkyTWeAGOcQR9RW6vPRhEKvZWkSn2gf6pmK65oUGnOnWckjewKJ2plt0mll6PPG7aniUQLOAHbWJielUIX2C2-UdK49w=s0-d)
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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's former president, Nelson Mandela, remains "quite ill" and unable to speak because of tubes that are keeping his lungs clear of fluid, though he is relaxed, his former wife told a South African newspaper.
"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 the Sunday 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 "