Baku-APA. South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela is looking much better, although still receiving medical treatment at a Pretoria hospital, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday, APA reports.
Zuma made the remarks after visiting Mandela to wish him a merry Christmas day on Tuesday morning.
"He is in good spirits, and he shouted my clan name Nxamalala as I walked into his ward," Zuma said. "He was happy to have visitors on this special day."
The doctors at the hospital are happy with the progress that Mandela is making, according to the president.
However, the doctors did not disclose when Mandela could be discharged from the hospital.
On Dec. 8, Mandela was flown to the administrative capital of Pretoria from his Eastern Cape home in Qunu, starting his longest stay in hospital since he was freed over two decades ago.
He was diagnosed with a lung infection, and underwent gallstone surgery, according the statements by the Presidency.
The South African president on Tuesday thanked the public for the good wishes and prayers since Mandela was admitted to hospital in Pretoria.
Early on Tuesday South African Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini joined the call to South Africans to pray for Mandela, wishing him a speedy recovery.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for the movement of the national liberation and became the first democratically-elected president of South Africa in 1994 after the end of apartheid.
He has a history of lung problems having suffered from the tuberculosis towards the end of the 27 years in prison.
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