Mandela's prostate cancer 'will not affect his work'

Nelson Mandela has prostate cancer and has begun a seven-week course of daily radiotherapy – but the illness is not expected to affect his life- span, his office said yesterday.

In a discreet and factual message, the former South African president's office said that his general health "remains excellent''.

A medical expert close to Mr Mandela, who celebrated his 83rd birthday last Sunday, said that he would be "effectively grounded in Johannesburg'' so that he could attend daily 15-minute sessions of radiotherapy at a private clinic.

"There are side-effects to this treatment, such as nausea and fatigue, but the former president should be able to keep up his busy schedule,'' said the doctor. We have evidence to suggest that he will respond well to the treatment,'' he added.

Yesterday morning's announcement is understood to have been carefully worded and timed to avoid a negative reaction internationally, given that South Africa is an emerging market with a relatively volatile currency.

The communiqué was released the day after Mr Mandela returned from Tanzania, where he is heading mediation efforts to end the civil war in Burundi.

"We wanted to keep the announcement low key and we felt it was important to avoid sadness on his birthday,'' the doctor said.

Late last year, the former president and his doctors called a press conference to announce that they were doing a biopsy to investigate possible prostate cancer. The briefing was held in Mr Mandela's garden in Johannesburg, at short notice and late on a Friday afternoon, so that the reports would miss South African and British trading hours.

Yesterday in London, Donald Rogan of the South African investment firm Investec, said the announcement had not affected the value of the South African rand. "The response has been muted this time. It has really been one of personal sadness. I think everyone accepts now that these problems are just part of Mandela getting old. At the same time, the present South African government is showing proof of good management."

Mr Mandela's spokeswoman, Zelda La Grange, said the former president was "very positive''.

She said: "It is definitely not life-threatening right now. He will not require any surgery or chemotherapy."

Mr Mandela, who spent 27 years in apartheid prisons, had most of his prostate gland removed in an operation in 1990, the year of his release. He was treated in the 1980s for tuberculosis and has had ongoing trouble with his eyes – photographers avoid using a flash near him because of damage caused by limestone dust when he endured forced labour in a quarry while imprisoned on Robben Island.

Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, who was a leading opponent of white rule while Mr Mandela was in prison, is also fighting the effects of prostate cancer. Urging Mr Mandela to heed the advice of his doctors, he said: "There is life after prostate cancer."

The office of Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, said it had noted Mr Mandela's condition and "joins millions of our people in wishing him success in the treatment".