Latest reports from South Africa indicate that world icon Nelson Mandela is still very much alive and that his condition has even witnessed some improvement for the first time since he was taken to hospital 10 days ago for a recurring lung infection.

“The 94-year-old world icon and the first democratically elected South African state president spent his ninth night in hospital where his condition is reportedly promising,” reports South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) this morning.

The radio station reported that Mandela’s ward at a Pretoria hospital was yesterday packed with visitors who came to cheer him up on Father’s Day.
“Madiba’s former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and other family members entered the hospital around lunch time, without talking to the media contingent camped outside the hospital. Madikizela-Mandela entered the hospital shortly after 1pm,” according to the SABC.
It said that “Mandela’s granddaughter Ndileka Mandela left the hospital shortly after 11.30am on Father’s Day. Another of his granddaughters, Zaziwe, accompanied her mother, carrying a basket.”
In another report, SABC said that “scores of people braved Sunday night’s cold weather and continued to burn candles outside the Mediclinic heart hospital” where Mandela is receiving treatment.

A banner with messages of Happy Father’s Day and Get Well Soon Madiba was displayed at one of the hospital’s main entrances, according to the report, adding that “a string of balloons with slogans such as ‘Get well soon Tata’ written on them hung on the gate outside the hospital.”
Meanwhile, Reuters, the international news agency, quotes South African President Jacob Zuma as saying yesterday that Mandela continues to recover in hospital but remains in a serious condition.

“We are grateful that he continues to get better,” Zuma was quoted as saying while addressing a gathering for Youth Day in eMadadeni in the KwaZulu-Natal province in remembrance of the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings against apartheid.. “Over the last two days, although he remains serious, his doctors have stated that his improvement has been sustained,” he added.

Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to his time at the windswept Robben Island prison camp near Cape Town. He was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars and was president from 1994 to 1999.

•Photo shows the iconic Mandela.