Updated 7.15pm

FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN President Nelson Mandela has been released from hospital this evening, almost three weeks after he was admitted for treatment for a recurring lung infection.

A spokesman for President Jacob Zuma told AFP that the anti-apartheid hero was released from hospital in Pretoria this evening.

According to ITV News Mandela or Madiba, as he is more popularly known in South Africa, will receive continuous medical attention at his Johannesburg home of Houghton.

The 94-year-old former leader was visited on Christmas Day by his wife Graca and other family members along with President Jacob Zuma, who said Mandela was “looking much better” and “in good spirits”.

Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj would earlier not be drawn on when the Nobel Peace laureate would be discharged.

Mandela was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on 8 December, after being flown from his rural home in Qunu in the south of the country.

He also underwent surgery to remove gallstones during his hospital stay, his longest since coming out of prison in 1990 after 27 years in detention.

Messages of support and prayers for the recovery of the much loved icon have been pouring in from all over the country.

- with reporting from AFP