It was the first report of an improvement in Mr. Mandela’s condition since he was admitted to a hospital in Pretoria early Saturday morning after suffering a recurrence of a persistent lung ailment, a legacy of the tuberculosis he contracted during the 27 years he was imprisoned for opposing apartheid. His health has been frail lately, and this hospitalization was his fourth in the last seven months.
 
Government officials in the last few days had been more downbeat, describing Mr. Mandela’s condition as “serious but stable” with no improvement.
 
Mr. Mandela, 94, is being treated in an intensive care unit, where close family members have been visiting him regularly. Among them are his daughters, his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and his grandson Mandla Mandela. His wife, Graça Machel, canceled a speech in London to be by his side.
 
Mandla Mandela, who is a traditional leader in the Eastern Cape village where his grandfather was born, spoke to reporters outside Mr. Mandela’s home.
 
“My grandfather is the father of the nation,” he said. “He’s embraced by the global community, and we appreciate the support that we’ve received.”
 
As an underground leader of the banned African National Congress, Mr. Mandela was convicted of treason 49 years ago on Wednesday. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in 1990 as the government, under intense international pressure, began negotiating with Mr. Mandela and the A.N.C.
 
Mr. Mandela was elected as South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and served one term. He retired from public life in 2004, and has not been seen in public since 2010, when South Africa hosted the World Cup. LOOD Naija