South African worshippers give thanks in Sunday prayers for improvement in Mandela's health

FILE - In this June 17, 2010 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. The South African presidency says Mandela has been discharged, Saturday, April 6, 2013, from a hospital after an improvement in his condition. Officials say he was treated for pneumonia. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File) (The Associated Press)

An ambulance believed to be transporting former president Nelson Mandela arrives at the home of Mandela in Johannesburg, Saturday, April 6, 2013. The South African Presidency has confirmed that Mandela has been discharged after spending nine days in hospital in Pretoria. Spokesman Mac Maharaj says the elder statesman was discharged, “following a sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition,” and thanked all South Africans and people around the world for their support. He says Mandela will now receive home based high care. Mandela was admitted to hospital on March 27 with pneumonia. Since then the 94-year-old former statesman has had fluid drained from his lungs to ease his breathing. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

Some South Africans have given thanks in Sunday prayers for the improvement in the health of Nelson Mandela, the former president who was discharged from a hospital after treatment for pneumonia.

Members of an outdoor congregation in Johannesburg say 94-year-old Mandela was in their thoughts often during his most recent hospitalization. The anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was admitted to a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria on the night of March 27 and was discharged on Saturday.

Knowledge Modisa, a South African advertising manager, says she and other worshippers have been putting Mandela "first" in their prayers.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison during the period of white racist rule that ended with his election to the presidency in a democratic vote in 1994.