The 94-year-old former South African President Nelson Mandela is now responding to treatment, according to the South African President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma updated Mandela's condition in a statement on Wednesday after visiting the former president.
"We are encouraged that Madiba is responding to treatment," said President Zuma, using Mandela's clan name.
"He could not talk, but he recognized me and made a few gestures of acknowledgement, like moving his eyes," the head of Mandela's Thembu tribe, King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, told AFP on Wednesday after visiting the former president.
Mandela has been in hospital since June 8 and this is his third hospitalization in the last six months. He is suffering from a lung infection and his health was fragile since contracting tuberculosis during his 27 years of imprisonment under the white minority regime when he led the South African movement to overthrow the regime.
"The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well-looked after and is comfortable. He is in good hands," said the South African president in an earlier press statement.
While he is battling for life in hospital, his family members have started a court-fight arguing over the burial site of three of Mandela's children.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner last week urged the family to end the bitter row over the burial site.
"Please, please please may we think not only of ourselves. It's like spitting in Madiba's face," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a statement .
