Nelson Mandela recovering 'slowly and steadily' but remains critical

Former South African President Nelson Mandela's health is improving steadily, although he remains in a critical condition, a presidency statement revealed.

The 95-year-old has been receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection at Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria for more than two months.

Doctors at the hospital have assured to President Jacob Zuma that the anti-apartheid icon is making a slow but steady improvement, News24 reports.

Zuma has appealed the South Africans to keep on praying for Mandela's recovery and good health, the report added.

Mandela's youngest daughter Zindzi said that her father was now able to sit up without help and he was more alert and more responsive than before.

Earlier, his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had denied reports of him being in a permanent vegetative state.

Mandela had also celebrated his 95th birthday in the hospital few days back.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate became South Africa's first black president in 1994.

He has spent 27 years on Robben Island and in other jails for his attempts to overthrow South Africa's white-minority government.