Nelson Mandela remains quite ill, says ex-wife Winnie Mandela

Former South African president Nelson Mandela remains quite ill and has lost the use of his voice, his former wife Winnie Mandela said.

"The bedroom there in Houghton (Johannesburg) is like an Intensive Care Unit. The tubes inserted in Mandela's mouth to drain fluid from his lungs has caused him to lose the use of his voice," Xinhua quoted Winnie as telling to Sunday Independent newspaper.

"He communicates with the face, you see. But the doctors have told us they hope to recover his voice," Winnie said.

"Though pneumonia has cleared, his lungs remain sensitive," she added.

Winnie said a team of 22 doctors was attending to the ailing anti-apartheid icon.

The family, Winnie said, was glad that Mandela is being treated at home, and this made him feel comfortable.

However, she denied reports that Mandela, 95, was on life support.

"I have heard this nonsense that he is on life support. He is not," she said.

Mandela is receiving medical treatment at his Johannesburg home after being discharged from hospital in early September following a 85-day stay for a recurring lung infection, the result of his long-time imprisonment during the apartheid times.

At the time of his discharge, the Presidency announced that his conditions remained critical and at times unstable, saying his house in Johannesburg has been configured to enable the doctors to give him intensive care.