Madiba magic for Bafana Bafana

4 June 2010

Nelson Mandela met Bafana Bafana's World Cup team at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices in Johannesburg on Thursday to wish the team well for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™.

Wearing a Bafana Bafana jersey carrying the captain's number "4", Mandela arrived to cheers and song from the team, members of his family and his staff.

'No one like you'

"Nelson Mandela, there is no one like you," sang the audience as he entered the room.

Captain Aaron Mokoena introduced Mandela to all the team members, including coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and the technical and management teams.

Introducing 1.98 metre-tall defender Matthew Booth to chants of Boooooth, Mokoena told Mandela, who stands an impressive 1.94 meters himself: "This is the tallest man in the building".

Mandela Day

Mandela will be 92 years old on 18 July. His birthday has been endorsed by the United Nations as International Nelson Mandela Day. On the day, people throughout the world are encouraged to give at 67 minutes of their time to do good work.

This is in honour of the 67 years that Mandela sacrificed to make South Africa and the world a better place.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation supports South Africa's Football Fridays and Fly the Flag campaigns, which are aimed at building national unity and generating excitement ahead of the Football World.

"We hope that all South Africans will wear their football shirts tomorrow for the last official Football Friday," said International Marketing Council of South Africa marketing manager Sophie Masipa.

SAinfo reporter