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Happy 87th birthday, Madiba!
15 July 2005
Nelson Mandela's 87th birthday is being marked by a series of events this month, including a cross-country torch relay from Robben Island to Ellis Park Stadium, a series of public lectures beginning with the third Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture - and, as always, a private party for Madiba and a group of orphaned and vulnerable children.
Mandela's birthday on Monday, 18 July will be marked by a live two-hour tribute by South Africa's national broadcaster, the SABC.
Also on 18 July, the winning design for the Statue of Freedom for Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape will be announced.
The structure - which will be complete no later than 27 April 2009, the 15th anniversary of SA's first democratic elections - will express the spirit of freedom and celebrate the life and work of Mandela.
On 19 July the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, by 2004 Nobel Prize
winner Wangari Maathai, will be televised live.
On 20 July - as per usual - the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund will host a group of orphaned and vulnerable children to celebrate Madiba's birthday with him in Johannesburg.
From Robben Island to Ellis Park Stadium
At a minute past midnight on Sunday, fireworks will be lit on Robben Island to celebrate the birthday of the world's most famous (former) political prisoner.
At the same time, a torch will be lit in the former Robben Island prisoner's cell, to be carried across the country over the next six days by a relay of more than 2 500 runners.
The relay, organised by South Africa Rugby and Vodacom, will also commemorate the tenth anniversary of South Africa's victory in the Rugby World Cup.
The relay will finish on Saturday 23 July at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, where former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar will carry the torch on its final leg, just before the
kick-off of the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate match between South Africa and Australia.
The Springboks have put their weight behind Mandela's 46664 Aids awareness campaign, wearing the number on their jerseys in the recent game against Australia.
"As you know, I was the 466th prisoner to be admitted to Robben Island in 1964," Mandela wrote in a recent letter to the Springbok team. "I was stripped to a number, and apartheid South Africa thought that by giving us numbers the world would forget about us.
"This number [46664] is now used by my foundation to make sure people do not become numbers in the struggle against HIV/Aids. By wearing the number, you become ambassadors in the struggle against the greatest catastrophe ever faced by man."
The Nelson Mandela Lecture
This year's Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, by 2004 Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, will look at the urgent social challenges facing humankind in the 21st century.
"The lecture has developed into a prestigious public address, giving a platform for the world's most prominent leaders and thinkers," said Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive John Samuel.
"We hope the lecture will contribute to developing a deeper understanding of what the world can do to address these challenges."
Former US President Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2003 and 2004 respectively, will be in attendance.
The lecture will take place on Tuesday 19 July, and will be televised live.
A public lecture series called "The Meaning of Mandela" will be held later in July. Hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council, the lectures will be delivered by intellectuals Cornel West, Henry Louis Gates Jr and Wole Soyinka.
Living legacy
On the Thursday leading up to Mandela's birthday, the Foundation announced the
launch of the Nelson Mandela Comic Series and a book called "A Prisoner in the Garden" - with Samuel emphasising the Foundation's role in developing a living legacy that captures Mandela's vision and values.
The comic series, a partnership between the Foundation and Umlando Wezithombe, will take young readers on a journey through the lives of Nelson Mandela and those who have been close to him.
"A Prisoner in the Garden", a joint venture between the Foundation and Penguin South Africa, will take readers into the vast archive documenting Mandela's life and work. To be published in November 2005, the book is the beginning of a process which will systematically open the archive to the public.
An exhibition of hundreds of Madiba's gifts and awards opened at the Mandela House in Houghton on the same day. The exhibition, showcasing expressions of respect and affection from people and institutions around the world, will be taken on a tour across South Africa later this
year.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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