The family of jailed black activist Nelson Mandela on Friday requested the government to release his medical records to determine whether prison conditions may have contributed to his contracting tuberculosis. The 70-year-old Mandela, leader of the outlawed African National Congress, was transferred a week ago from the Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town to nearby Tygerberg Hospital. Reports of his illness triggered a wave of new appeals at home and abroad for his release after 26 years in jail. A statement issued on behalf of the Mandela family by anti-apartheid activists said Mandela was receiving good care at Tygerberg. But it questioned whether conditions at Pollsmoor may have contributed to the disease or whether doctors there could have made a quicker diagnosis. Doctors have said the prognosis for Mandela's recovery is good and treatment is expected to take about five months. The statement asked that Mandela's medical records be released to his family ``to dispel the nagging doubts existing in their minds.'' It was signed by the Rev. Beyers Naude, a white anti-apartheid activist on behalf of a new group called the Mandela Crisis Committee. Mandela's illness presents South African President P.W. Botha with one of the toughest dilemmas of his 10 years in power. The president, who has faced rising pressure to free Mandela, knows that violence could break out if the leader dies in jail. But he also knows that releasing the leader of the biggest guerrilla group fighting white rule would anger the right wing and could trigger renewed black activism as nationwide municipal elections approach on Oct. 26. On Thursday, Botha said Mandela's release was under serious consideration and indicated the government was trying to Mandela to accept its condition that he renounce violence. Mandela, jailed since 1962, is serving a life sentence for plotting a sabotage campaign to overthrow the government and its apartheid system of racial segregation. Neither the ANC nor Mandela's family have issued a formal response to Botha's remarks. But the statement issued by the activists Friday said Mandela ``has made his position very clear regarding the issue of violence.'' Mandela rejected a previous offer of conditional release, saying he would not renounce violence until the government legalized the ANC, dismantled apartheid and opened negotiations aimed at granting full political rights to the black majority. The Citizen, a pro-government Johannesburg daily, quoted unidentified government sources as saying there was no possibility of Mandela's release before the October elections, which will mark the first time that blacks and whites across the country vote on the same day. The government depicts the event as a major step toward democracy and has outlawed calls for an election boycott. But anti-apartheid groups have made clear they reject the election as an attempt to entrench a segregated political system. South Africa's 26 million blacks have no vote in national affairs. The 5 million whites control the economy and maintain separate districts, schools and health services.
