South Africa’s ailing anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is doing much better in hospital, his ex-wife Winnie said yesterday, as US President Barack Obama arrived for a visit that includes paying homage to a man he calls his “personal hero”.

The faltering health of the first black president of South Africa, a revered symbol of racial reconciliation, has drawn world attention since the 94-year-old was rushed to hospital with a recurring lung infection nearly three weeks ago.

Earlier this week, the government said Mandela’s frail condition had turned critical, but since Thursday President Jacob Zuma has reported that his health is improving.

“I’m not a doctor, but I can say that from what he was a few days ago, there is great improvement,” Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, told reporters outside Mandela’s former home in the Johannesburg township of Soweto.

But, she added, he remained “clinical-ly unwell”.

Aboard Air Force One prior to arriving in South Africa, Obama paid tribute to Mandela for the way he led his nation out of apartheid after years of struggle, but said he did not need a “photo op” with the former president.

“Right now, our main concern is with his wellbeing, his comfort, and with the family’s wellbeing and comfort,” he told reporters before the US presidential aircraft touched down on Friday evening at Waterkloof air force base in Pretoria.

During his weekend trip to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, his second stop of a three-nation Africa tour, Obama is scheduled tomorrow to visit Robben Island, where Mandela passed 18 of the 27 years he spent in apartheid prisons.

White House officials have said they will defer to the Mandela family on whether a visit to the hospital to see Madiba, as he is affectionately known, would be appropriate in the present circumstances.

The President of the US told reporters his message in South Africa would draw from the lessons of Mandela’s life.

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