Mandela released from hospital in South Africa

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Slideshow: Nelson Mandela: A revolutionary's lifeOdd Andersen  / AFP - Getty Images View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.Launch slideshowBy NBC News staff and wire servicesJOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released from a hospital in Pretoria on Wednesday evening, a government spokesman told NBC News.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld  Mandela, 94, had been admitted more than two weeks ago for what were described as routine tests but then was treated for a recurring lung infection and then underwent surgery to remove gallstones.

Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for President Jacob Zuma, told NBC News that doctors were satisfied with Mandela's progess and that the anti-apartheid hero will receive "high care" at his Johannesburg home.

Zuma had visited Mandela on  Christmas Day and had said he was "in good spirits."




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