Former president Nelson Mandela is responding "well" to medication and treatment, the Surgeon General of the South African Defence Force said on Sunday.

"This morning the medical team looking after the former President has reported that he has had a restful and peaceful night," Lieutenant General Vejay Ramlakan said in a statement.

Ramlakan said 24 hour care and close monitoring from a team of specialists would continue.

Mandela continued to be visited by close family and relatives.

Small media crews remained outside his Houghton home on Sunday afternoon, with only the occasional tour bus passing by to take pictures of the house and journalists.

A little girl was also seen delivering a 'get well' card for Mandela to one of the security guards in the late afternoon.

Earlier on Sunday Brigadier-General Zola Dabula said Mandela was "fine" outside the recuperating former president's Houghton home.

Dabula, who is part of the team of military medical staff monitoring Mandela's progress, would not say more.

Mandela's grandson Mandla was among the first to pop in for a visit on Sunday.

During the day Rivonia treason trialist Andrew Mlangeni arrived.

"He looks bright," Mlangeni said after almost an hour with Mandela, who is recovering from a respiratory infection at home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

"They say he is responding well to treatment and what pleased me most, he is able to recognise us," said Mlangeni.

Like Mandela, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the struggle against apartheid.

The sprightly Mlangeni took a minute to speak to the media after his visit.

This, in contrast to the statement made at his trial when he would only admit to being part of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the militant wing of the then banned ruling ANC, which Mandela headed for a period.

At the time, Mlangeni said that if he testified he would be giving away the details of people he had met and places he had been to.

"Every now and then he opens his eyes and says 'hello, hello, hello'," Mlangeni said on Sunday, smiling at the way Mandela usually greeted people.

He left as relatives of Mandela's wife Graca Machel walked over from their house nearby for a visit.

Among those seen at the house on Sunday were Mandela's long-time aide Zelda la Grange, who strolled along the pavement with a man.

Used to the media attention, she ignored calls from across the road for comment.

The 92-year-old Mandela had a quiet start to Sunday with joggers, dog-walkers and the occasional cruiser breaking the Sunday silence.

This, in contrast to the frenzy while he was treated for an acute respiratory infection in Milpark Hospital, which was fueled by an information blackout.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has acknowledged that the flow of information could have been better.

Sunday newspapers have reported the vacuum was because of disagreements over how the matter should have been handled.
On Sunday, television crews set up slowly to relay images of visitors to Mandela's Houghton home.

Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane offered prayers for Mandela and lit a candle of hope in a service at the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, in Soweto.

Mandela's visitors have been restricted to family, close friends and medical staff.