| Madiba celebrates 90 years |
|
|
|
| Written by Lucille Davie | |
| Tuesday, 10 June 2008 | |
|
Activities have been lined up to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, in Johannesburg and across the world. 
The iconic Nelson Mandela turns 90 this year (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
JOBURG'S most famous freeman, Nelson Mandela, has become a unique, worldwide phenomenon, with a myriad people involved in raising awareness of global issues in his name. His prison number, 46664, has become synonymous with helping people affected by and infected with Aids in Africa. His prison number was 466, and he was imprisoned in 1964. It is said four, double six, six four. Mandela was in prison for 27 years. On Robben Island he was only called by this number, and he decided that the number could be used in the fight against Aids. "46664 is an African response to the global HIV/Aids epidemic that invites the whole world to take the fight in hand," reads the 46664 website. "Through this simple, poignant means [Mandela] has demonstrated and communicated to the world that people must never be reduced to simple numbers - we are human beings, all equal, and those infected with and living with HIV/Aids have the same right to live and to be treated as equals." 
The towering bronze figure of Nelson Mandela in Nelson Mandela Square
Mandela has been honoured in several ways in Johannesburg. In mid-2004 he received the freedom of the city. His fellow freedom fighters, Walter Sisulu and Beyers Naude, are the only others to receive this honour, in 1997 and 2001 respectively. In mid-2003 he opened the steel-cable bridge named after him, linking Braamfontein and Newtown. The Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup, a rugby tournament, honours his name and support of the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa. And in April 2004 the huge bronze statue of a smiling Mandela was unveiled in Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton. The Nelson Mandela Theatre in the Civic Theatre complex is also a tribute to our famous resident. On 13 May this year Madiba received the freedom of the city of Tshwane. He said on that occasion: "We accept this honour from the administrative capital of our nation with this one simple request to the nation and the leaders of our nation: remember the horror from which we come; never forget the greatness of a nation that could overcome its divisions and bring itself to where it is; and let us never again descend into destructive divisiveness no matter what the considerations are."
46664 campaign Tickets for the 46664 concert on 27 June in London went on sale on 9 May. Expect to see Annie Lennox, Sugababes, Queen and Paul Rodgers, and our own Johnny Clegg, the Soweto Gospel Choir, and Loyiso perform for the great man. Tickets go at £65 (just under R1 000). Out of this Aids initiative flowed the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which aims to develop partnerships and initiate programmes that empower and improve the wellbeing of children and youth. And, out of the children's fund flowed the Foundation for Development in Mozambique, founded by Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, to provide for the basic needs of vulnerable communities devastated by HIV/Aids. Another initiative, the African Women's Development Fund, based in Ghana, is the first African organisation set up to provide grants to African women's organisations across the continent. It has funded over 400 women's organisations in 41 African countries. Through its special HIV/Aids programme, 46664 monies support community organisations in Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Togo and Benin. South Africans can donate R20 to the 46664 campaign by sending an SMS to 46664. They can also buy a 46664 T-shirt.
Birthday Mandela's 90th birthday celebration programme is already fully booked. Items include a global birthday wishes campaign, where people can send messages to him by means of SMS, MMS and online; a series of youth community dialogues, essay and arts competitions focusing on Mandela's leadership and the Vision of an African Child; and a series of children's parliaments are being held in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, culminating in a joint sitting via satellite in June. July, his birthday month, will be particularly busy. On 5 July, there is the launch of a book entitled Hunger for Freedom: The Story of Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela, at Constitution Hill. On 9 July a children's fund celebration entitled Celebrate a Children's Champion at 90 takes place. The sixth annual Nelson Mandela Lecture at Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown also takes place in July, given by the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The Madiba Legacy Series comics will be published as a book in this month too. In August, a 15-city American tour of A Portrait of Mandela kicks off in Atlanta. In this month too, the Malibongwe Dialogues will be launched as an annual event by the Department of Arts and Culture, to celebrate the role of women in society. The following month, a retrospective exhibition on Mandela's life opens at the Apartheid Museum, while in November the annual 46664 World Aids Day concert takes place in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Later in the year the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development will announce a five-year developmental programme that will identify and support a network of rural school communities which will become part of the Mandela School Community Network. A series of public dialogue platforms will be launched under the banner Justice in Education in our Lifetime.
Private initiatives In typical Madiba fashion, his daughter, a Nelson Mandela Children's Fund trustee, Zinzi Mandela-Hlongwane, described his thoughts on his upcoming birthday in The Star as: "He's amused by the efforts to make it a special day, but what's most important to him is that we uphold his legacy and remove the focus off him and place it on the work we do." The Nelson Mandela Foundation apparently has a number of surprises to announce for his birthday month. Mandela-Hlongwane, when asked by The Star how Madiba felt about turning 90, said: "He believes he's younger than that."
Related stories: |
