By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GettyImages.
The FW De Klerk Foundation on Tuesday slammed reports that the former president’s health is deteriorating.
There have been extensive media reports that Mr De Klerk’s health ‘is rapidly deteriorating’. This is not so,” foundation chairperson Dave Steward said in a brief statement.
Earlier, eNCA reported that De Klerk was admitted to hospital after his condition had deteriorated.
This is not so, said the foundation.
“There has been no discernible deterioration in his health since he was diagnosed in March with mesothelioma — a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs. He is now considering the continuation of the course of immunotherapy that he has been following for the past two months.”
De Klerk is suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.
He announced his condition in March this year.
Symptoms can include shortness of breath and chest pain.
The life expectancy for most mesothelioma patients is approximately 12 months after diagnosis.
De Klerk, 85, headed South Africa’s white minority government until 1994, when Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress party swept to power.
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela, but his role in the transition to democracy is highly contested more than 20 years after the end of apartheid.
This is a developing story.