PRETORIA: South Africa and the world showered tributes on Nelson Mandela yesterday as the anti-apartheid leader turned 95 in hospital and his doctors reported he was “steadily improving” from a six-week lung infection.
The country has been on edge since the former president and father of the multi-racial ‘Rainbow Nation’ established at the end of apartheid in 1994 was admitted to hospital on June 8 with recurring lung problems that kept him in a critical condition.
It was his fourth stay in hospital in six months and has reminded South Africans that the man who is globally admired as a moral beacon against injustice and a symbol of racial reconciliation will not be with them for ever.
But the mood was of celebration yesterday as thousands of South Africans sang “Happy Birthday” and took part in charitable initiatives in a global outpouring of support for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on UN-designated ‘Nelson Mandela Day’.
US President Barack Obama led tributes to the peace icon, calling on people to honour him through volunteer work. “Our family was deeply moved by our visit to Madiba’s former cell on Robben Island during our recent trip,” Obama said in a statement. “We will forever draw strength and inspiration from his extraordinary example of moral courage, kindness, and humility.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed Mandela as “a giant of our times” and called on people around the world to pay tribute to him through community service.
Other well-wishers included the Dalai Lama, former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, US actor Morgan Freeman and Mandela’s former jailer FW de Klerk, who went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize with him. “Mandela’s place in South Africa’s history is assured,” former president De Klerk said in a statement. “His legacy of courage, perseverance and magnanimity will continue to inspire us—and people throughout the world—for generations to come.”
In central Lisbon the Don Pedro IV Square was to be renamed Nelson Mandela Square, and an open-air Mandela-themed opera concert was planned in Paris. On Saturday, the Australian city of Melbourne will hold a concert featuring local and African artists.
South Africans young and old commemorated the birthday with 67 minutes of public service to honour the 67 years Mandela served humanity by first fighting against white-minority rule and then consolidating racial harmony when he was president.
Many offered birthday wishes outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela has been receiving treatment, singing songs and holding up signs wishing him a speedy recovery. “Thank you for all that you have done for this country,” said one well-wisher, Margaret Chechie.
President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela at the hospital and said he was making steady progress. “I was able to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to him and he was able to smile,” he told reporters. Hours earlier, his office had cited Mandela’s doctors saying “his health is steadily improving”.
Across South Africa, office workers, students, soldiers and ordinary citizens marked Mandela Day by sprucing up orphanages, painting walls at schools and delivering food to the poor.
The United Nations declared July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day in 2009 and will celebrate with speeches from figures such as former US president Bill Clinton. The day will also be marked in nearly 20 US cities with ceremonies around Capitol Hill in Washington and by volunteers handing out South African oranges in New York.
“Tata (our father) is making this remarkable progress and we look forward to having him back home soon,” Mandela’s daughter Zindzi said. Zindzi said the family planned to give Mandela a collage of family photographs for a present and have lunch together at the hospital where their patriarch is being treated.
Reuters/AFP
