The spokesman for South Africa's president says Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital and has returned to his home in Johannesburg.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement Sunday that doctors had completed a "successful'' medical examination of the 94-year-old Mandela and that he is "well.''

The former president and anti-apartheid leader was admitted to a hospital in Pretoria on Saturday.

Mandela was hospitalized for nearly three weeks in December.

At that time, he was treated for a lung infection and had a surgical procedure to remove gallstones.