Nelson Mandela responding to medical treatment, sources say

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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.

By Madeleine Haeringer and F. Brinley Bruton, NBC News

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Nelson Mandela has responded to treatment, leaving relatives optimistic and relaxed about his steady progress, two family sources said Wednesday. 

Family members of South Africa's ex-president were hopeful that Mandela would return home soon, the sources told NBC News.

South Africa's 94-year-old democracy icon was rushed to the hospital with a lung infection Saturday. 

Jacob Zuma, the country's current president, on Wednesday also announced that Mandela was "responding better to treatment." 

On Tuesday, Zuma had described Mandela’s condition as “very serious but stabilized," adding that “all are praying” for the anti-apartheid leader’s recovery.

Kim Ludbrook / EPA

Children gather to sing songs for Nelson Mandela at his house in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday.

Zuma said Mandela was a "good fighter" and also praised his medical team for "doing their best."

Family members have been flocking to Mandela's side at a Pretoria hospital while hundreds journalists from around the world wait outside to hear news of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's condition.

Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa, during which time tuberculosis weakened his lungs.

After he was released in 1990, he took his fight for racial equality right to the presidency, toppling the minority white leadership and becoming the country's first black president.