Happy birthday Mandela July 18, 2013 by: FMT Prev PRETORIA: Nelson Mandela spend his 95th birthday in hospital in Pretoria, as events take place around the world and in South Africa in his honour. South Africans are being urged to match the former president and anti-apartheid leader’s 67 years of public service with 67 minutes of charitable acts. Mandela, who is in critical but stable condition with a recurring lung infection, entered hospital on 8 June. His daughter Zindzi said yesterday that he had made “dramatic progress”. “I should think he will be going home anytime soon,” she told UK Sky TV. Mandela’s birthday is also Nelson Mandela International Day, a day declared by the UN as a way to recognise the Nobel Prize winner’s contribution to reconciliation. The former statesman is revered across the world for his role in ending apartheid in South Africa. He went on to become the first black president in the country’s first all-race elections in 1994. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said that on this Mandela Day homage was being paid to 95 years of “life well-lived”, dedicated to the liberation of South Africans and people all over the world. To mark the former statesman’s 67 years as a lawyer, activist, prisoner and president, volunteers will spend 67 minutes renovating schools and orphanages, cleaning hospitals and distributing food to the poor. His third wife, Graca Machel, said last Friday that she was “less anxious” about his health than before and that he was continuing to respond well to treatment. - Agencies
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:15:44 +0000
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