konknaijaboy | On 18, Jun 2013

Former South African leader Nelson Mandela is “is doing better,” his grandson said Saturday, according to South Africa’s national news agency.

Mandela, 94, has been in serious but stable condition since being rushed to a Pretoria hospital June 8 with a recurring lung infection.

Mandela has been in and out of hospitals in recent years. Each episode has sparked renewed health concerns.

His history of lung problems dates to when he was a political prisoner on Robben Island during the apartheid era, and he has battled respiratory infections over the years.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010.

Last year, he spent the Christmas holidays undergoing treatment for a lung infection and gallstones, one of his longest hospital stays since his release from prison in 1990.

CNN