JOHANNESBURG—One of Nelson Mandela's grandsons, who is at the center of a family dispute, said Monday that his grandfather's health continues to "steadily improve" since he was admitted to a hospital early last month.
Mandla Mandela said he visited his grandfather at the Pretoria hospital on Sunday where he's being treated and found him to be "getting stronger and stronger everyday."
"Madiba's improved health is particularly heartening because it flies in the face of those who have been busy spreading lies that Madiba is in a 'vegetative state' and just waiting for his support machines to be switched off," Mandla Mandela said in a statement Monday.
His comments come days after the ailing statesman celebrated his 95th birthday last week Thursday and as the presidency comments about the former president's health shifted from being "critical but stable" to steadily improving.
Mr. Mandela was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on June 8 to treat a lung infection, one of many he has battled since contracting tuberculosis during 27 years in prison for opposing South Africa's former white-minority regime.
Mandla Mandela's visit to the hospital also comes as he is involved in a bitter public dispute with other Mandela family members over the burial of family remains.
Last month, Mr. Mandela's oldest surviving daughter Makaziwe Mandela along with 14 other family members and close friends of the family took Mandla Mandela to court. Makaziwe Mandela wanted Mandla Mandela to return the remains of three of Mr. Mandela's children who Mandla Mandela had reburied in Mvezo, Mr. Mandela's birthplace and where Mandla Mandela was installed as chief.
Makaziwe Mandela won the case and the remains were returned to Qunu earlier this month. Qunu is where Mr. Mandela has a retirement home and where he spent many of his formative childhood years. According to court documents that were released around the case, Mr. Mandela wants to be buried in Qunu alongside the remains of his children.
The court papers seen by media earlier this month also said that Mr. Mandela is in a "vegetative state" and that family members were considering a recommendation by doctors to switch off life support machines helping Mr. Mandela breath.
Mandla Mandela said he wouldn't fight the removal of the family remains but would seek to show the statements about his grandfather's health in court papers was exaggerated.
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