Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
March 19, 1997
After discussions with medical specialists in the United States, followed by further consultations with my doctors in Cape Town, I have decided to undergo a combination of hormone treatment and radiotherapy for my prostate cancer.
As mentioned in earlier statements on my health, after initial prostate surgery in January, I was presented with three treatment options:-
Radical surgery Radiotherapy Hormone treatment, or a combination of radiotherapy and hormone treatment.
I had been inclined before my recent visit to the United States to choose the option of surgery, which seemed to me to give the best chance of removing completely the cancer.
However I have now been advised that the cancer is suspected to have penetrated beyond the prostate gland and that as a result radiotherapy is the best option.
Medical specialists in Cape Town will begin a three-month course of hormone treatment tomorrow. I plan to maintain a normal schedule but will be unable to continue squeezing additional commitments into the schedule.
After the hormone treatment, I plan to have the radiotherapy at a clinic in the United States. This will take two months, and I intend to set up an office there so that I can keep close touch with the Commission.