South Africa’s school children sang
happy birthday to anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela who turned 94 on
Wednesday, joining in the global praise for the much-loved statesman.
Mandela, whose 1990 release from an
apartheid prison put South Africa on the path to democracy and reconciliation,
spent a quiet day with his close family in his home village of Qunu, where he
has retired from public life.
The nation’s 12 million
schoolchildren began their day with a special birthday song for the Nobel Peace
Prize laureate, ringing with the line: “We love you father”.
“As we celebrate his birthday, we
remember that he fought for us in the struggle. The struggle was to fight
apartheid,” 12-year-old Kgaugelo Masunhloane at Batsogile primary school in
Soweto said.
“He spent 27 years in prison. We
would want to say thank you Madiba, and we wish you happy birthday, and many
more years to come.”
Mandela, known fondly by his clan
name Madiba, has not appeared in public since the World Cup in 2010. But his
relatives said he was doing fine, for a man of 94.
Chief Mandla Mandela, the family’s
head, said he was “relaxing at home and doing fine” at his Qunu home.
“Generally, he’s looking good and
he’s joking, he’s his old self,” his granddaughter Tukwini Mandela told CNN
from the family compound.
Images of Mandela have become rare
since he retired to Qunu.
But he retains the ability to
inspire, and for many South Africans remains a symbol of the best of themselves,
for leading the nation away from civil war and to a non-racial democracy.
Former US president Bill Clinton met
Mandela at his village home on Tuesday. A photograph released after the meeting
showed Mandela seated in an armchair, his lap covered by a blanket, as he held
Clinton’s hand.
A couple of buses and a few dozen
cars were parked outside his home where entry was restricted to his close
family members.
Villagers at his birthplace in
nearby Mvezo were showered with gifts, including wheechairs donated to the only
clinic in the village.
But fellow Nobel peace laureate
Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned that South Africa was not living up to Mandela’s
ideals, saying he would be shocked at the shambolic state of public schools.
“If he (Mandela) knew what was
happening he would be crying… it’s totally unacceptable,” Tutu told a
leadership summit in the central Free State province.
He was angry at the failure by
education officials to deliver textbooks to some rural schools, noting that
some children were still learning under trees because of a lack of classrooms,
18 years after Mandela became South Africa’s first black president.
At the request of his charitable
foundation, July 18 is observed as Mandela Day, recognised by the United
Nations as a global call to volunteer for good causes for 67 minutes —
representing each year of Mandela’s life in active politics.
At the Tour de France, children
unfurled a banner to wish the icon happy birthday at the start of the daily
stage.
And the science world added an
unusual tribute, naming a prehistoric woodpecker — the oldest type ever found
in Africa — after Mandela.
President Jacob Zuma pledged to
uphold Mandela’s legacy of promoting forgiveness, unity and a non-racial
society.
“We make a commitment to continue
where Madiba left off. We will continue the long walk to confront poverty,
unemployment and inequality,” he said in a statement.
At 94, Mandela is just six years
younger than the ruling ANC party, which has been rocked by bitter in-fighting
for the last five years.
His ex-wife, Winnie
Madikizela-Mandela said: “We cannot pretend all is well in the African National
Congress,” as she marked the birthday at an orphanage.
“That is not the ANC he gave up his
life for and that is not the ANC we all wanted it to be. Especially on his
birthday.”
Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in a Thembu
royal family in Mvezo village southeastern South Africa
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