Former South Africa leader Nelson Mandela was in “good spirits” Friday, officials said, as he spent a second day in hospital where he is being treated for a recurring lung infection.

“The doctors report that he is making steady progress,” said a statement from the country’s presidency, adding that the 94-year-old had “enjoyed a full breakfast.”

Earlier, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, sought to reassure his country over Mandela’s health, saying in a BBC interview that people "must not panic."

However, he appeared to agree with the suggestion that South Africa should prepare for Mandela’s eventual death.

“Is this a time for us to be aware of what is inevitable?” asked the BBC's Lerato Mbele. “Well, I would imagine so,” replied Zuma.

Mandela, 94, was taken to a hospital just before midnight local time (6 p.m. ET) on Wednesday – his third hospital visit since December.

He has a history of lung problems dating back to his days as a political prisoner in the notorious Robben Island jail under the apartheid regime, where inmates worked in an open quarry. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1988 after being moved to Pollsmoor Prison.

Mandela spent 18 days in hospital in December, undergoing surgery for gallstones.

Earlier, President Barack Obama sent his best wishes to the former leader.

"He is as strong physically as he's been in character and in leadership over so many decades, and hopefully he will ... come out of this latest challenge," Obama told reporters at the White House Thursday.

"When you think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the first name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. And so we wish him all the very best," Obama said.

NBC News’ Stacey Klein contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Fri Mar 29, 2013 5:03 AM EDT

AP, file

Olympian Oscar Pistorius stands following his bail hearing in Pretoria, South Africa, on Feb. 19.

PRETORIA, South Africa -- A South African court eased bail restrictions on Olympian Oscar Pistorius, who is charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, with the judge saying he should be allowed to travel abroad.

"I find no reason why Pistorius should be forbidden from leaving (South Africa) if he's invited to compete in athletic events in other countries," Judge Bert Bam told the court on Thursday. 

Pistorius, a double-amputee who is also a Paralympic star, and must provide authorities with an itinerary before he leaves the country, Bam said. He must also return his passport to the court within 24 hours of returning to South Africa, The Associated Press reported.

Pistorius' lawyers said the athlete had no immediate plans to travel or compete abroad, but may need to in order to make money.

His legal team had objected to him not being allowed to travel outside of South Africa even though a magistrate said he was not a flight risk when granting him 1 million rand ($108,000) bail.

The court also reversed the ban on Pistorius visiting the gated housing estate where he shot Steenkamp dead early on Valentine's Day.

The sprinter denies murdering Steenkamp and says he shot her by mistake, fearing an intruder was in his home. Prosecutors say he killed her intentionally following an argument.

There was no sign of Pistorius or his family in Pretoria High Court on Thursday. Pistorius was not obliged to appear. 

On Wednesday, the sprinter's brother also appeared in court on trial for the death of a woman in a road collision in 2008.

Carl Pistorius arrived Wednesday at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court in Johannesburg to face a charge of culpable homicide, or unlawful, negligent killing.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:30 AM EDT

Mike Holmes / Gallo via Getty Images, file

Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend, Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day after she locked herself in the bathroom.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Reeva Steenkamp locked herself in her room when intruders broke into her home two years ago, her uncle said, echoing the model’s apparent actions the night she was shot dead by Olympian Oscar Pistorius.

Steenkamp was given counseling after the break-in at the house where she lived with her parents in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, uncle Mike Steenkamp said in an interview Monday.

According to his account, Steenkamp was at home with her mother in 2011 when a burglar carrying a crowbar smashed into the house. When she heard footsteps Steenkamp raced into her room and hid behind a locked door, he said. 

Prosecution lawyers believe that Steenkamp, 29, locked herself in a bathroom to escape from her boyfriend Pistorius on the morning of Feb. 14.  

They contend that Pistorius -- the 26-year-old sprinter known as "Blade Runner" who inspired millions when he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics -- intended to murder his girlfriend when he fired through the door of the bathroom in his Johannesburg home. 

Pistorius says he thought an intruder had broken in.

'The fear'
During the interview, Mike Steenkamp said his niece "must have been reliving the nightmare" of the break-in in the moments before she was killed.

"Two years ago, the same style of locking in. And they could hear the intruders in the house," he said at his home in Cape Town alongside Reeva’s cousin, Jason Mckay. "They took the laptops and everything else in the house."

"Two years ago could have gone through her mind -- the same locking the door, (the) fear," he added.

Mike Steenkamp also said he had forgiven Pistorius for what happened to his niece.

"I've forgiven Oscar and that's actually helped me,” he said. “It's strengthened me so much that I can manage to cope with daily life."

Pistorius was granted bail last month and is due to return to court in June.  

But his lawyers are set to challenge some of the conditions of his bail, which they believe to be unwarranted and unfair.

They argue that evidence presented in court showed that the Paralympian is not a flight risk, so should have the option of traveling outside South Africa with permission.

Mike Steenkamp struggled to contemplate the possibility of Pistorius going overseas.

"You know, I can't associate with that. I can't allow my mind to go in that direction. I must try and keep away from that. And that's the only way that's going to help myself,” he said.

Mckay, Reeva's cousin, added: "It would be a bit unfair, though, because I know that anyone else in this situation would not be allowed to go anywhere else."

Pistorius' lawyers are also seeking to overturn a ruling that prevents him from returning to the estate where he shot his girlfriend.

Prosecutors have indicated that they will oppose any application to have bail conditions altered.

Related:

Slain model's father: Pistorius will 'suffer' if he's lying about her death

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Oscar Pistorius murder case detective quits South African police

Elmond Jiyane / AFP - Getty Images file

A handout photo provided on May 16, 2011 by the South African government shows former South African President Nelson Mandela posing with his wife Graca Machel.

Nelson Mandela was hospitalized Saturday in South Africa for what was called a “scheduled medical check-up.” It was the second time in three months that the country’s former president was hospitalized.

Mandela was admitted to the hospital “for a scheduled medical check-up to manage existing conditions in line with his age,” presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told NBC News. “Doctors are conducting tests and have thus far indicated that there is no reason for any alarm.”

The government did not reveal other details about the prominent anti-apartheid leader’s treatment in a Pretoria hospital on Saturday.

Mandela spent nearly three weeks in the hospital in December for treatment of a lung infection and gallstone surgery. The leader’s December hospitalization was his longest since being released from captivity as a political prisoner in 1990.

He has mostly removed himself from public life over the last decade.

Reuters contributed to this report.

EPA, file

Hilton Botha at the bail hearing of paralympian Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 20.

JOHANNESBURG - Hilton Botha, the South African detective ridiculed for his slipshod handling of the initial investigation into the killing of Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend has resigned from the force, police said on Thursday.

Warrant Officer Botha, a detective with 24 years experience, was the first officer on the scene after the Valentine's Day shooting of law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.

However, he was pulled off the case after it emerged he was being investigated for seven counts of attempted murder. He was also criticized for mixing up key facts about the investigation at Pistorius' bail hearing.

He handed in his resignation yesterday and it was accepted with immediate effect," police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila told Reuters. "We are not going into the details."

Botha, a detective with 24 years experience, is accused of firing on a minibus taxi full of passengers in 2011 while pursuing a man accused of murdering a woman and disposing of her dismembered body down a drain, local media said.

The charges were withdrawn but reinstated on February 4, 10 days before Steenkamp was shot.

The incident has embarrassed the South African police who regularly come under fire for failing to reduce one of the highest crimes rates in the world and dispel perceptions of a force that is poorly trained.

Last week, eight policemen were arrested for tying a Mozambican taxi driver to the back of a vehicle and dragging him to the station. The video-recorded treatment of the man who later died shocked audiences around the world.

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Lead detective in Pistorius case faces attempted murder charges

Pistorius: I felt 'sense of terror' on night I mistakenly shot girlfriend

Eight South African police officers have been charged with murder amid outrage over the death of a taxi driver who was dragged along the ground while tied to a police van.

The incident in the Johannesburg area of Daveyton on Tuesday was caught on video by a bystander and the film has since gone viral on YouTube.

Mido Macia, 27, originally from Mozambique, did not die while he was dragged down the street, but was later found dead in his police cell.

Moses Dlamini, of the police investigation unit, said the officers were charged with murder late Friday, The Associated Press reported.

In a statement, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma said that the “visuals of the incident are horrific, disturbing and unacceptable.”

“No human being should be treated in that manner,” he added.

South Africa's police chief Gen. Riah Phiyega said she shared "the extreme shock and outrage" over the video evidence of abuse of Macia by police officers and said his rights were "violated in the most extreme form,” the AP reported.

Earlier Phiyega told a news conference Friday that the eight officers involved had been suspended and the station commander was going to be removed from duty, Reuters reported.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 5:49 AM EST

Lucky Nxumalo/City Press via AP

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg in Nov. 4, 2012.

Oscar Pistorius was to hold a private memorial service Tuesday for the girlfriend he was charged with murdering.

Slain model Reeva Steenkamp was cremated and mourned at a family service last week while Pistorius was in custody during a weeklong hearing on whether he should be released on bail.

Now that the South African athlete is free on $112,000 bond, he "specifically requested the memorial service as he continues to grieve and remains in deep mourning for the loss of his partner," a statement from his representatives said.

Mike Sheehan /EPA file

Barry Steenkamp, father of Reeva Steenkamp, is embraced after her memorial service at the Victoria Park Crematorium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on Feb. 19.

"Since it is such a sensitive issue," the statement said, "Oscar has asked for a private service with people who share his loss, including his family members who knew and loved Reeva as one of their own."

The service was to be held at the hilltop Pretoria home of his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, where he has been staying.

The sprinter known as "Blade Runner," who inspired millions when he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics, has admitted he fatally shot Steenkamp, 29, his girlfriend of four months.

He said in a court statement that he heard what he thought was a prowler, grabbed his gun, rushed to the bathroom on his stumps and fired through a closed door.

Prosecutors contend that he knew Steenkamp was in the bathroom and that he meant to kill her after a Valentine's Day argument. They charged him with premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life.

Steenkamp's family did not attend the emotionally charged bail hearing, where Pistorius, 26, sobbed numerous times as prosecutors leveled accusations against him.

Her mother has said she wanted answers about what happened the night of the shooting. Her father said last week that if Pistorius was telling the truth, he might one day forgive him, but that if he was lying, "he will suffer."

Meanwhile, the judge who presided at the bail hearing confirmed Tuesday he was dealing with a personal tragedy: his first cousin is suspected of poisoning her 12-year-old and 17-year-old boys and then killing herself in Johannesburg over the weekend, the Associated Press reported.

The revelation was one of several twists in the Pistorius case. Last week, the chief investigator was tossed from the inquiry because attempted murder charges stemming from a police-involved shooting in 2011 had been reinstated. And Pistorius' brother is also facing a homicide charge in connection with a 2008 car accident that left a woman dead.

Cheryll Simpson of NBC News contributed to this report

Stephane De Sakutin / AFP - Getty Images

Carl Pistorius, who is facing culpable homicide charge in a 2010 road death, and sister Aimee Pistorius attend the appearance of their brother South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday.

JOHANNESBURG -The family lawyer of Oscar Pistorius says the brother of the Olympic paraplegic athlete is facing culpable homicide charge in a 2010 road death.

Laywer Kenny Oldwage would not confirm details of the case Carl Pistorius is facing, but Sunday's development is compounding the problems for the family after Oscar was charged with premeditated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Local media reported that Carl Pistorius was allegedly involved in a crash with a woman motorcyclist and that he was to face trial last Thursday, as his brother Oscar was facing a bail hearing. 

Oscar Pistorius was released on bail Friday and his brother Carl was seen driving into the affluent villa of their uncle Arnold early Sunday, where Oscar is staying while on bail. 

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Slain model's father: Pistorius will 'suffer' if he's lying about her death

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