Johannesburg: Former South African president Nelson Mandela "is in good spirits and well" after being hospitalised on Saturday with a long-standing abdominal complaint, a report said.

Nelson Mandela in pictures

"I can assure you that the former president is in good spirits and well," South African presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told the private eNews channel.

Mandela was admitted to an undisclosed hospital on Saturday morning after doctors felt he needed specialist medical attention.

"I do not want to go into any of those details because we wish to ensure privacy for president Mandela's family and himself," said Maharaj.

The beloved anti-apartheid icon returned to his Johannesburg home last month from his rural home village in the Eastern Cape, some 800 kilometres from Johannesburg, where he moved after a health scare last year.

His last public appearance was at the final of the football World Cup hosted by South Africa in July 2010.