Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has
been hospitalized since June.
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela still is
in critical condition at a Pretoria hospital but "shows sustained improvement,"
the office of South African President Jacob Zuma said Monday.
Mandela, who
turned 95 last week, has been hospitalized with a lung ailment since
June.
Zuma, who visited Mandela in the
hospital on Monday, also said last week that Mandela was steadily improving,
after weeks of describing his health as critical but stable.
Mandela, a Nobel peace laureate,
spent 27 years in prison for fighting against oppression of minorities in South
Africa. His history of lung problems dates to when he was a political prisoner
on Robben Island during apartheid, and he has battled respiratory infections
over the years.
He became the nation's first
black president in 1994, four years after he was freed from prison.
