A file photograph from outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria.
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday he was confident his predecessor’s health would improve and that the ailing anti-apartheid hero would be discharged to recuperate at home.
"I know the doctors who are working with him are very good people, very good doctors and are doing an excellent job. I am quite certain that one of these days Madiba will go back home," the South African Broadcasting Corporation quoted Mbeki as saying.
"What the government has been saying, that his condition is critical but stable, is correct, that one of these days the doctors will agree that he can go and stay at home rather than in hospital."
Mandela turns 95 next week. He has been in hospital since June 8 for a recurring lung infection that has led to four hospital stays in the past six months.
Mandela's wife Graça Machel told local channel eNCA he was showing signs of improvement.
"He continues to respond positively to treatment. I would say that today I am less anxious than I was a week ago," she said.
Meanwhile, balloons, flower baskets, and South African flags were among the items left outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria where Mandela is being treated.
People continued to visit the Celliers Street wall on Sunday, and posed for pictures in front of it.
The shrine of messages continued to grow, with organisations also adding their words of support. One get well poster was from the Pretoria Magistrate's Court and another from the University of the Free State.
Marquees lined the street, under which journalists took shelter from the heat while keeping a close watch. Police continued to monitor the hospital entrance.
The presidency said last week that he remained in a critical but stable condition. – Reuters, Sapa