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Party Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe announced Friday that Mandela will miss the activities saying, “he is in good spirits, but very, very old.”

It is expected, however, that Mandela will send a message to be read at the celebration.

The aging South African statesman, who turns 94 this year, is idolized by his countryman and considered the father of the anti-apartheid movement.  When Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years of imprisonment, South Africans of all races looked to him to stop their nation from falling into a racial civil war. And he did.  Serving as the ANC president from 1994 to 1999, the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s focus was to bring peace to his people.  Under his leadership, a long list of progressive social reforms were enacted to reduce inequalities amongst the country’s black population.

The ANC celebration is expected to draw more than 100,000 people and more than 40 heads-of-state and dignitaries. Emeritus Arch-Bishop Desmond Tutu is expected to join Sunday’s festivities in Mangaung, Free State Province.  The party is said to be celebrating its core principles of allowing people to chose their own destiny in a “united, non-racial, non-sexist nation.”

Founded on January 8, 1912, the ANC has spiraled downward as far as its popularity.  Critics point out that the South African people are no longer the party’s focus and that corruption reigns supreme.

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The venerated party once banned for decades under apartheid has won every national election since racist white rule ended in 1994, and President Jacob Zuma vows the party “will rule until Jesus comes.”

Yet as the African National Congress marks its 100th anniversary this weekend with fanfare and dozens of visiting presidents, critics say the ANC has failed to unchain an impoverished majority still shackled by a white-dominated economy.

Unemployment hovers around 36 percent and soars to 70 percent among young people. Half of the country’s population lives on just 8 percent of the national income, according to the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

South African political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi praises the ANC for developmental achievements “unprecedented anywhere in the world” in its 17 years of governing the country.

But he noted that many at the ANC festivities will have their joy marred by “a tinge of disappointment and even sadness” about weaknesses and failures.

The ANC’s reputation is being tarnished by a never-ending deluge of corruption scandals, some involving politicians who sacrificed during the fight against apartheid and now feel entitled to luxury cars and financial payback.

It’s created disillusionment, especially for those who volunteered to serve as freedom fighters at a time when many of the ANC’s leaders were imprisoned for their activism.

Serame Mogale, who was only 14 when he became a guerrilla fighter for the ANC, recalled that the slogan in one Angolan training camp was “the pace of the slowest.”

“We would run six hours nonstop with female comrades in front, from whom the whole company or platoon will take the pace,” he recalls. “But today, the weakest is overtaken and left behind to tire and die.”

Africa’s oldest liberation movement is kicking off the festivities with a golf tournament — an event critics say shows how the grassroots-based movement has morphed into an elitist-run political party.

More than 100,000 people are expected for the ANC centenary festivities, including 46 heads of state and a dozen former presidents, the party says. Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu is coming, though it’s unclear whether Mandela will make an appearance.

The 93-year-old icon’s public appearances have become increasingly rare, though he did attend the closing ceremony of the World Cup in 2010. He also made a surprise appearance at a campaign rally ahead of the 2009 election, when the ANC faced unprecedented competition from a breakaway party.

“I would be nothing without the ANC,” Mandela said at a 2008 party rally marking his 90th birthday.

The political party representing South Africa’s impoverished majority already has drawn criticism for spending 10 million rand (nearly $1.5 million) of public money to buy the church where it all began.

The Wesleyan church is the focus of this weekend’s centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein, a city in the heart of the country. It was here that black activists and intellectuals founded the liberation movement that would help lead the decades-long struggle against racist rule.

Until just 20 years ago, blacks were evicted from their homes and herded into separate suburbs, forced to work under slave-like conditions on mines and farms. Families were separated under legalized race discrimination so that white entrepreneurs could take advantage of poorly paid black laborers.

The best parks, beaches and restaurants were reserved for the white minority, with signs in Afrikaans saying “Nie Blankies” — Whites Only. Some shops would only serve blacks through a hole in the wall.

Black nannies cared for white children and prepared elaborate meals for white families, then went to hovels in the backyards of mansions to feed their own children “ration meat” — bones and fat less nutritious than the meals served to white families’ dogs.

A turning point came in 1960, police turned their guns on about 300 people peacefully protesting “pass laws” restricting them to certain areas and requiring them to leave white areas where they worked by nightfall.

At least 69 people were killed and scores wounded in the Sharpeville massacre. The unprovoked slaughter attracted international condemnation that formed the roots of the global anti-apartheid movement.

The government declared a state of emergency and banned South Africa’s two liberation movements — the Pan Africanist Congress, which had organized the Sharpeville protest, and the ANC.

ANC leaders declared there was no longer any space to organize nonviolent resistance and formed Umkhonto we Sizwe, Zulu for “Spear of the Nation,” an army that would wage a guerrilla war for liberation.

“The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices: submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit but we shall fight back by all our means within our power for the liberation of our motherland,” said the guerrilla army manifesto.

After Mandela’s 1990 release from prison, he was elected president of ANC and went on to become South Africa’s first black president after the historic 1994 election.

While the ANC confronted a common enemy in apartheid, it became a catchall for people of many different ideological persuasions. Once the enemy was defeated, it is not surprising that differences have arisen.

“We would like to think it (the ANC) has teething problems, but it’s not really only teething problems,” says Amina Cachalia, a political activist who joined the ANC in the 1940s. “I think suddenly it’s become a different platform for different ideologies and for different people with different agendas, and that’s a pity, a great pity.”

The party also has struggled to find a leader as charismatic as the beloved anti-apartheid icon.

Thabo Mbeki, the president who succeeded Mandela, was unceremoniously booted out of office by an ANC congress that deemed him too cerebral and out of touch with the people.

Today the ANC is led by Zuma, a guerrilla fighter who was imprisoned at Robben Island alongside Mandela but whose polygamous lifestyle and extramarital affairs have scandalized South Africans.

Zuma’s leadership is being challenged by Julius Malema, the very same fiery youth leader credited with ousting Mbeki and helping bring Zuma to power in 2007. Late last year, an ANC disciplinary committee fired Malema and suspended him from the party for five years.

Malema, who is awaiting the result of an appeal and is under police investigation for corruption and tax evasion, has been denied the opportunity to address the centenary celebrants. But he will speak at smaller rallies near Bloemfontein, the party said of the young firebrand who draws support from young adults.

Sifiso Mkwanazi, a 26-year-old self-employed businessman, complains about the government’s lack of investment to create jobs and better education opportunities.

“For the generation of my parents, I think it (the ANC) has done a lot, but with our generation, I don’t think they are contributing as much as they should be,” he says.

Still, he said his vote would go to the ANC unless a viable opposition party devoted to the people’s interest springs up.

Cachalia, who has been a friend of Mandela for 60 years, says she wonders what he would make of the ANC’s evolution.

“I sometimes feel very disillusioned these days, but I suppose we live in hope,” she says.

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South Africa is celebrating the 93rd birthday today of its most prized national figure, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

Close to 12 million students sang “Happy Birthday” to Mandela before school began today.

But one of the many things African students — and people all across the world can look towards to for inspiration — are the many quotes Mandela has provided us with.

Here is our list of the “Top 10 Nelson Mandela Quotes of All-Time.”

1. Nothing in this world is impossible and Mandela makes sure to remind us of that.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

2. A lot of people find it easy to be pessimistic and think of the negatives that can arise out of a situation. But in this quote, Mandela shows us that thinking positive is the only way to go. The more positive you think, the more positive the outcome will probably be.

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

3. Living isn’t just about doing for yourself, but what you do for others as well.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

4. An ode to the fact that racism is not passed on genetically, but passed on through teachings.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

5.  Life is a course with endless obstacles to hurdle.

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

6. We are too quick to give up and refuse to get up from our failures. If we don’t fight to get up, we are giving up on something bigger — life.

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

7. Sometimes you can leave a place and find that the only thing that has changed after all the years is yourself.

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

8. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

9. Be brave!

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

10. From the poorest of countries to the richest of nations, education is the key to moving forward in any society.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

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More than 12 million students sang a special version of “Happy Birthday” before lessons began Monday.

Mandela also received birthday wishes from South African leaders including President Jacob Zuma and from U.S. President Barack Obama. In a statement sent Sunday, Obama called Mandela “a beacon for the global community, and for all who work for democracy, justice and reconciliation.”

Mandela, who has retired from public life, is expected to spend the day with his family in his home village of Qunu, some 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Johannesburg.

In 2009, his birthday was declared as an international day devoted to public service.

People around the world have been asked to mark the occasion by giving 67 minutes of their time to work in their local community — one minute for every year of Mandela’s public service. He became South Africa’s first black president after spending 27 years in prison for his fight against apartheid. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Mandela’s public appearances have become increasingly rare, though he did appear at the closing ceremony of the World Cup one year ago.

Earlier this year, he was hospitalized for a few days with an acute respiratory infection. Last month, though, he held a private meeting with Michelle Obama when the first lady traveled to South Africa with her daughters.

His foundation also has recently released “Nelson Mandela By Himself,” a book featuring more than 2,000 Mandela quotations on topics ranging from freedom to forgiveness to HIV/AIDS.

For many South Africans, the elder statesman is also thought of as a beloved family member and referred to by his clan name, Madiba.

Students at the Johannesburg School for the Blind and Partially Sighted sang and danced Monday morning as they wished their “Tata Mandela” a happy birthday.

Most of the students are fire victims from South Africa’s impoverished townships and have received assistance from the Children of Fire charity.

This year, the charity held a mock trial at the school to illustrate Mandela’s role in fostering reconciliation after apartheid’s end. On trial: several children accused of stealing from the kitchen.

Charity founder Bronwen Jones said the lesson is especially valuable for children who have been through adversity. She said one in three of the children were burned intentionally.

“For them to be able to rise from that and forgive the people who hurt them, there’s no better example than Madiba,” she said.

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A photo provided by the Nelson Mandela Foundation showed the 92-year-old Mandela sitting on a couch next to Mrs. Obama, pen in hand to sign an advance copy of his new book, “Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorized Quotations Book.” Mandela was wearing one of his trademark shirts, richly patterned and buttoned at the neck.

Mrs. Obama, daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 10, and her mother, Marian Robinson, were viewing some of Mandela’s personal papers at his foundation when he sent word that he wanted to meet them at his home in a leafy Johannesburg neighborhood. It was the first meeting between America’s first black first lady and the political prisoner who later became his country’s first black president

Mrs. Obama’s entourage spent about 20 minutes with Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, who is a former first lady of Mozambique.

Mrs. Obama’s niece and nephew, Leslie Robinson, 15, and Avery Robinson, 19, who are traveling with her, were also invited to meet Mandela.

White House officials had no immediate comment on the meeting. No aides, except for photographers for the foundation and the White House, witnessed the meeting.

Mandela, who stepped down in 1999 after serving one term as president, is rarely seen in public anymore. At age 92, he is in fragile health and was briefly hospitalized in January with an acute respiratory infection. But he apparently felt well enough Tuesday to invite the Obama family to visit.

Mrs. Obama is traveling without President Barack Obama, who met Mandela on a previous visit to Africa when he was a U.S. senator. Obama and Mandela have spoken by telephone several times since Obama took office, most recently last June, the White House said. Obama also wrote a foreword for Mandela’s book, “Conversations with Myself.”

Mandela spent 27 years in prison for his role in the movement against apartheid, South Africa’s now-abolished system of racial separation.

Mrs. Obama began a weeklong goodwill visit to South Africa and Botswana on Monday.

Earlier Tuesday, the first lady met with Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, a wife of South African President Jacob Zuma, who has three of them. She and her family were ending the day with a tour of the Apartheid Museum.

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Google spokesman Luke Mckend said Tuesday that the foundation will scan more than 10,000 of Mandela’s personal records, including notes he wrote during his 27 years of imprisonment for his fight against apartheid. The database will be accessible for free on the Internet.

The foundation’s chief executive Achmat Dangor said Mandela established the foundation’s memory center in 2004, hoping to increase access to documents about his life. The 92-year-old Nobel peace laureate became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and stepped down after serving one term in 1999.

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SOUTH AFRICA – Jennifer Hudson prepared for her upcoming role in the movie “Winnie” about South African civil rights leader and wife of former President, Nelson Mandela by sleeping in a South African prison similar to the one where Winnie Mandela spent 500 days.

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Essence reports:

While locked in her cell, Hudson’s camera crew shot scenes of her confinement to depict the 500-plus days Winnie Mandela was imprisoned. By the third day, the actress said her hair was tangled, her eyes had sunken in, and she began hallucinating imaginary conversations with her son.

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Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said in a statement Monday that he was concerned about the high number of visitors, and asked people to give Mandela space.

The deputy president said Mandela was “responding to medication and treatment” and had a “restful and peaceful” night.

Mandela was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He led the country’s transition to a democracy after serving 27 years in prison for his fight against racist rule.

More than 500 people gathered at Regina Mundi church, a former center of anti-apartheid protests and funerals. Bullet holes in the ceiling serve as reminders of a 1976 incident when police stormed the church during an anti-apartheid protest and fired live ammunition at students.

Mahlangu said his parishioners showed great concern during Mandela’s two-night hospital stay.

“Around here, there was no life, everything just stopped,” Mahlangu said. “They were just asking questions: ‘Why?’ And I said to them, ‘the man is 92 years old, he has worked for us, he has done his part and then we need to pray for him.’”

Churchgoers clad in colorful African fabrics swayed and harmonized with the choir, waving their arms to the hymns.

“All of this wouldn’t have been possible without him,” said Lerato Tsotetsi, a university student. “He gave us this new South Africa, and yes, he’s our father, so it’s only right. We all are his children, and we’re gathering to pray for him.”

In 1997, Mandela spoke at the church, and praised the institution for opening its arms to anti-apartheid protesters. He called Regina Mundi a “battlefield between forces of democracy and those who did not hesitate to violate a place of religion with tear gas, dogs and guns.”

Doctors discharged the Nobel peace laureate from the hospital Friday, and he is continuing to receive care from home. On Saturday, South Africa’s deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe visited Mandela at home and said Mandela was happy to have returned from the hospital.

Mandela is responding “very well” to medication and treatment, according to a statement released Sunday by Army Surgeon-General Vejaynand Ramlakan. The statement said Mandela had a “restful and peaceful night.” The army is charged with the care of former presidents in South Africa.

Mandela became the country’s first black president after serving 27 years in prison for his fight against racist rule.

“We don’t forget him,” said Eva Ntuli, a churchgoer. “Even the smallest children cry, ‘Dada, you must live for us.’ They pray everyday. We still need him.”

“It comes to us this afternoon with great joy to hear that he’s been discharged,” grandson Mandla Mandela told reporters at a hospital news conference that included Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Soon afterward, a convoy of security vehicles and a military ambulance carrying Mandela left the hospital, reaching his nearby home in minutes. Neighbors were happy to have him back.

“Everyone was holding their hearts and saying not now,” said Patricia Ramaila, who has lived across the street from Mandela for four years. “A person like Mr. Mandela – we still need him.”

Another neighbor, Gillian Jacklin, said when Mandela first moved into the leafy neighborhood, the former president knocked on her door to introduce himself. “But he doesn’t go out very much anymore,” she said.

“He’s become the father of South Africa – what happens when he goes and his message is no longer important?” she said.

A dearth of updates since Mandela was admitted Wednesday afternoon had led to speculation and concern about his condition. Journalists have been camped outside the hospital and outside his Johannesburg home. Officials said Friday that Mandela’s office has received more than 10,000 messages of support and well wishes, including from President Barack Obama.

Motlanthe, who is acting president while President Jacob Zuma is traveling abroad, said in retrospect communications should have been better.

“Madiba has received similar checkups in the past and it’s never raised the same public panic it has now,” Motlanthe said, explaining why officials had not been prepared. South Africans affectionately call the 92-year-old Madiba, his clan’s name.

Ramlakan, the surgeon general, said Mandela was in stable condition and had not been on a respirator.

Mandela also had a respiratory infection eight years ago and contracted tuberculosis in 1988 while in prison, Ramlakan said. He added Mandela takes medication for a chronic, unnamed condition, and needs help to walk.

“Despite all of this, his amazing positive attitude allows him to cope with the difficulties of old age with the greatest of grace,” said Ramlakan, who is the South African army’s top doctor. The army is charged with the care of former presidents in South Africa.

Ramlakan would not say whether Mandela’s most recent infection was in the upper or lower regions of his respiratory tract. A lower tract infection could have signaled more serious problems than an upper respiratory problem.

“We are at the end of the day talking about somebody who is 92 years old,” Ramlakan said. “When you are 92 years old, what is routine is very different from when you are 19.”

Motlanthe said Mandela was joking with his wife and nurses before being released Friday.

Mandela was released in 1990 after 27 years in prison for his fight against apartheid. He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and stepped down after serving one term in 1999. He largely retired from public life in 2004.

The public has seen only glimpses of him recently, such as in November, when his office released photos of a private meeting between Mandela and members of the U.S. and South African soccer teams. The teams had just played a match in his honor.

Mandela also appeared at the closing ceremony of the World Cup in July, waving to the crowd as he was driven in a small golf cart alongside his wife, Graca Machel.

Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had visited him in the hospital Thursday but refused to comment on his condition when she attended a court hearing Friday.

Madikizela-Mandela appeared relaxed at the court, which postponed the hearing for a man accused of homicide and drunk driving in a June car crash that killed Mandela’s great-granddaughter Zenani, 13, as she was headed home after a World Cup concert.

The Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa organization said in a statement Friday its members were praying for Mandela’s speedy recovery.

Mandela “is an example of the virtues of a truly great and loving father, who cares for all near and dear to him,” the bishops said.

“To the nation, he is a great and inspiring leader …. To the international community, he is a unique African and global statesman who rose above personal, tribal, race and party interests in order to lead the South African nation through a difficult transition from apartheid to democracy.”

Mandela’s African National Congress, the party that has governed South Africa since he led it to its first election victory in 1994, thanked his medical team in a statement Friday.

“We thank the entire South Africa community and the international community for their prayers and well wishes to Madiba for his speedy recovery,” the ANC added.

Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital on Wednesday for what his foundation described as routine tests but Talk Radio 702 reported that Mandela had been seen by a specialist pulmonologist, who treats respiratory systems.

“He is a 92-year-old and will have ailments associated with his age and the fact that he stayed the night should not suggest the worst,” ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.

“We urge people not to make unfounded statements, let’s remain calm and not press panic buttons because there is no reason to do so.”

Read more at Reuters.com

This is not the anti-apartheid icon of “Long Walk to Freedom,” Mandela’s 1995 autobiography. “Conversations with Myself,” which goes on sale Tuesday in 22 countries and 20 languages from Catalan to Turkish, presents a more human Mandela, faults, frailties and all.

“Conversations” was compiled with the 92-year-old former South African president’s blessing by a team of archivists, editors and collaborators who worked from decades of notes, letters, recorded conversations and other material.

In a foreword, U.S. President Barack Obama writes that Mandela, who largely retired from public life in 2004, is inspiring even if he is no saint.

“Underneath the history that has been made, there is a human being who chose hope over fear — progress over the prisons of the past,” Obama wrote. “And I am reminded that even as he has become a legend, to know the man … is to respect him even more.”

“Conversations” is best read as a companion to “Long Walk,” which was in part calculated by Mandela and other members of his African National Congress party to stir support for anti-apartheid activists as they stepped into new roles as leaders trying to heal and develop a divided, impoverished nation.

As he puts it in “Conversations,” an autobiography of “a freedom fighter must inevitably be influenced by the question whether the revelation of certain facts, however true they may be, will help advance the struggle.”

Certainly, the possibility of violence within Mandela’s first marriage, to Evelyn Mase, who died in 2004, had no place in the official autobiography. But it has been raised elsewhere, including in “Young Mandela,” an unauthorized biography by British writer David James Smith that appeared earlier this year.

In “Conversations,” Mandela puts his version on record. In a transcript of a conversation with Ahmed Kathrada, a friend and fellow veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle who was helping him polish “Long Walk,” Mandela denies he once tried to choke his first wife. Instead, he said, she threatened to burn him with a red hot poker.

“So I caught hold of her and twisted her arm, enough for me to take this thing out,” Mandela says.

“The poker away,” Kathrada responds.

Mandela: “That’s all.”

Mandela has said his first wife did not understand or support his political activism. A second marriage, to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also ended in divorce. His anguish over sacrificing family life to politics is a recurrent theme of “Conversations.”

“I love playing and chatting with children, giving them a bath, feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my political life,” he writes in a passage drawn from an unpublished autobiography he had intended as a sequel to “Long Walk,” but never completed.

Other “Conversations” passages are taken from notes Mandela made in calendars in his careful, upright penmanship. On Dec. 12, 1984, he jotted: “Results: failed all six subjects.” He writes elsewhere of having too little time to study for his advanced law degree, taken by correspondence while he was in prison.

The editors of “Conversations” promise the Mandela behind the public figure. But a tell-all would be hard to imagine from Mandela, who spent years as a secretive underground ANC agent, and knew throughout his 27 years in prison that letters to even his closest confidants were being read and censored by apartheid authorities.

Mandela emerged from prison as the most famous African leader of the 20th century, whose words could have far-reaching impact. giving him more reason to be guarded. But there are fascinating glimpses of the inner man, and flashes of his celebrated humor in “Conversations.”

He describes being taken from prison to a hospital to be treated for tuberculosis, and being presented with a breakfast of bacon and eggs despite being on a cholesterol-free diet. When an official warned him against defying doctor’s orders, he replied: “Today, I am prepared to die; I am going to eat it.”

Sales of the book will benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The foundation, which houses a Mandela archives and supports development and other projects in his name, switched in recent years from a logo featuring Mandela’s face to one of his hands. That reflected his desire to shift the focus from himself, and his concern his legacy would mean little if South Africans did not take it upon themselves to build their country.

“It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it,” Mandela said last year, calling on people around the world to celebrate his July 18 birthday by doing good for others.

“Conversations” presents a Mandela more people may feel they can emulate. It ends with a passage from his unpublished autobiography in which he insists he was never a saint — “Even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

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A trustee of a Nelson Mandela charity said he will leave the organization after being caught up in a scandal involving a supermodel, a warlord and rough diamonds.

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund announced Wednesday that its former chief executive, Jeremy Ractliffe, was stepping down from the charity’s board after he acknowledged that he secretly possessed alleged “blood diamonds” for more than a decade.

His possession of the diamonds came to light earlier this month when supermodel Naomi Campbell testified she gave them to Ractliffe in 1997. She said she received them from three men who came to her hotel room after she attended a 1997 Children’s Fund charity event also attended by then-Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Prosecutors had called Campbell to help prove Taylor traded in illegal diamonds to arm Sierra Leone rebels.

Campbell testified during Taylor’s war crimes trial that she did not know the source of the diamonds, but other witnesses said she bragged about getting them from Taylor.

Text continues after Pictures of the Week gallery:

Campbell said she gave Ractliffe the diamonds the morning after she received them, as a donation for Mandela’s charity.

Ractliffe said he didn’t tell the foundation about the diamonds, and kept the stones in a safe for 13 years until he handed them over to police after Campbell’s testimony.

South African police, who have opened an investigation into whether charges might be filed against Ractliffe, said Thursday the investigation was not yet been completed.

In a statement, the Children’s Fund said Ractliffe regretted not having informed other officials about receiving the three uncut diamonds earlier, “and acknowledges that had he done so, he and the board could have found a better and lawful way to manage the situation.”

It added Ractliffe had apologized “for the anxiety and possible reputational risk his conduct may have caused.” The fund said he would not seek re-election in a board vote scheduled later this month and would resign from the board of the fund’s U.S. affiliate.

Ractliffe, a respected businessman, has said he kept the stones and did not report them to authorities in a bid to protect the reputations of Mandela, Campbell and the charity, of which he was a founder.

It is illegal in South Africa to possess a rough diamond because of possible links to conflict zones, money-laundering and other crimes.

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Naomi Campbell’s former modeling agent testified today that she believes the supermodel knew the alleged ‘blood diamonds’ she received from two men in the middle of the night were actually from dictator Charles Taylor, and that Campbell had been flirting with the warlord during dinner and was expecting the gift.

Carole White, Campbell’s ex-agent, became the second witness to take the stand at an international war crimes trial Monday and dispute important elements of Campbell’s testimony to the same body last Thursday. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is on trial in the Hague for allegedly using uncut “blood diamonds’ to fuel a bloody civil war, and prosecutors say Taylor’s alleged gift of the gems to Campbell after a 1997 dinner at Nelson Mandela’s house is proof the now-deposed dictator was buying guns in South Africa.

Earlier Monday, actress Mia Farrow disputed the supermodel’s claim under oath that she did not know where the gift of “blood diamonds” had come from.

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LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands – Naomi Campbell testified before a war crimes tribunal Thursday, confirming that she had received some “dirty-looking stones” after a 1997 dinner party with former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor. Still, the supermodel said she didn’t know if the stones were actually diamonds or if the gift came from Taylor himself.

Campbell, an extremely reluctant witness at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, was being questioned in Taylor’s war crimes trial about claims made by actress Mia Farrow. Farrow had said Taylor gave the model an uncut diamond or diamonds after an event hosted by then-South African President Nelson Mandela at his presidential mansion in Pretoria.

Prosecutors had hoped Campbell would provide evidence that Taylor traded guns to neighboring Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for uncut diamonds — sometimes known as “blood diamonds” for their role in financing conflicts — during Sierra Leone’s 1992-2002 civil war.

Prosecutors say from his seat of power in Liberia, Taylor armed, trained and commanded Sierra Leone rebels who murdered and mutilated thousands of civilians across the border. Taylor, 62, says he is innocent of the 11 war crimes charges he faces, including murder, rape, sexual enslavement and recruiting child soldiers.

After fighting for months to avoid testifying, Campbell arrived at the courthouse in Leidschendam surrounded by a police escort. In contrast to her usual edgy fashion style, the British supermodel wore a demure cream two-piece outfit and piled up her straight dark hair into a classic chignon.

Entering the courtroom fashionably late — several minutes after she was first summoned to take the stand — Campbell was calm and composed as she quickly answered questions from prosecutor Brenda Hollis for nearly two hours.

“I didn’t really want to be here,” she said. “I just want to get this over with and get on with my life, this is a big inconvenience for me.”

Campbell had declined to cooperate with prosecutors until judges last month ordered her to appear or face a possible sentence of up to seven years for contempt.

Speaking confidently Thursday, Campbell testified that she was awakened in the middle of the night after the September 1997 dinner party by two black men at her door. She said they offered her a pouch they said was a gift for her with no further explanation.

She said she frequently receives gifts from admirers and didn’t look at it until the following morning.

“I saw a few stones in there. And they were small, dirty-looking stones,” she said.

She said, at breakfast the following day, either Farrow or Campbell’s former agent Carole White had told her the rocks must be diamonds and were probably a gift from Taylor.

Campbell said she gave the stones to a friend, Jeremy Ratcliffe, who was the director of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, intending he use them for charity. She said she had called Ratcliffe a year ago to ask what he had done with the stones, and he told her he still had them.

It was the first time Ratcliffe’s name had appeared at the trial. He is still a trustee of Mandela’s charity but it was not immediately possible to reach him Thursday. There was no response to phone calls to his South African homes in Johannesburg or Plettenberg Bay or to his cell phone.

Hollis asked Campbell why she had been so reluctant to appear before the war crimes tribunal, and the model said she was afraid to be associated with Taylor.

“This is someone that I read up on the Internet that killed thousands of people supposedly and I don’t want my family in any danger in any way,” Campbell said.

Taylor’s defense attorney, Courtenay Griffiths, angrily objected, saying the line of questioning was “totally irrelevant” to Campbell’s testimony.

Campbell had been called to the stand by the prosecution, but she often seemed more comfortable answering questions from Griffiths, the defense attorney. Griffiths got Campbell to testify that some statements about the dinner given to prosecutors by Farrow and White were wrong. He said White has suggested that Campbell was seated next to Taylor at the dinner and flirted with him.

White is enmeshed in a legal dispute with Campbell.

“This is a woman who has a powerful motive to lie about you?” Courtenay asked.

“Correct,” Campbell answered, with a slight smile. She said she sat between Mandela, whom she idolizes, and music producer Quincy Jones at the dinner.

Appearing to take great pains to distance herself from former Liberian president, she repeated several times that she couldn’t verify the stones were diamonds or that they came from Taylor.

“They were kind of dirty looking pebbles … when I’m used to seeing diamonds I’m used to seeing them shiny in a box,” she said, smiling. “If someone hadn’t said they were diamonds I wouldn’t have guessed right away that they were.”

She said Farrow had suggested they came from Taylor, and she merely agreed. She added she has never seen Taylor before or since that dinner.

“I had never heard of Charles Taylor before, never heard of the country Liberia before, had never heard the term ‘blood diamonds’,” she said.

Both White and Farrow are to testify before the war crimes tribunal on Monday.

Frustrated by Campbell’s answers, Hollis said Campbell appeared to be downplaying her friendliness with Taylor, pointing to a photograph in which they were standing next to each other at the dinner.

But Griffiths said it wasn’t right for the prosecution to challenge the credibility of its own witness, and Judge Julia Sebutinde agreed. Hollis then argued Campbell should be considered a court witness, given that she had stonewalled prosecutors ahead of Thursday’s testimony.

“You subpoenaed her and it was a prosecution witness,” Sebutinde retorted.

Taylor, sitting in the defendant’s chair, smiled at the exchange.

International law experts said Thursday’s testimony by Campbell was unlikely to affect the course of the trial. But media turnout was extremely heavy, with more reporters and television crews attending than at any time since the trial began in January 2008.

“This whole episode with Naomi Campbell being called to testify, what’s welcome about that is that it’s thrown the international media attention back on to the issue of blood diamonds,” Global Witness spokesman Oliver Courtney told AP Television News. “This is a problem that hasn’t gone away, as we see continued human rights abuses linked to diamonds in countries like Zimbabwe.”

Taylor has been in custody in the Netherlands since June 2006. He is the first former African head of state to stand trial at an international war crimes court.

Campbell became one of the world’s highest-paid models after being discovered while shopping in London at age 15. Now 40, the hot-tempered supermodel is no stranger to courtrooms, having faced a series of minor lawsuits and criminal cases over the years.

In June 2008 she pleaded guilty in an incident where she cursed, kicked and spat at police at London’s Heathrow airport in a rage over a missing piece of luggage. She was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for that.

Campbell also did a week of community service sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets in a Manhattan garbage-truck garage in 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for hurling a cell phone at her maid because of a vanished pair of jeans.

In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant who said the model whacked her on the head with a phone.

A few of Campbell’s former aides and maids have sued her, accusing her of violent outbursts; some cases have been settled on undisclosed terms.

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Police say Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren underwent a harrowing ordeal with gunmen following the South African icon’s 92nd birthday party.

No one was hurt and the attackers fled after an exchange of gunfire on Sunday.

Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said Mandela’s grandchildren were returning to their Johannesburg home following the family birthday party.

Two gunmen approached the car as it entered the gates of the home of Mandela’s daughter Zindzi and ordered the occupants to lie down in the entrance. One fired a shot and the family driver returned fire.

It was not immediately clear why police confirmed the incident Thursday. Armed car hijackings are common in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world.

Click here to view photos of Nelson Mandela

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Obama Calls For Americans To Honor Nelson Mandela On His Birthday

From CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama called Sunday for Americans to perform community service in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 92nd birthday.

“On behalf of the United States, I wish Nelson Mandela a very happy 92nd birthday,” Obama said in White House statement, referring to the former South African president who spent 27 years in prison before leading his country from white-minority rule to all-race democratic elections.

“We are grateful to continue to be blessed with his extraordinary vision, leadership, and spirit. And we strive to build upon his example of tolerance, compassion and reconciliation.,” Obama said of Mandela, who is known around the world by his clan name, “Madiba.”

Click Here For More

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We never anticipated the popularity of this article, nor the controversy that it would cause.  But all we can say is, “Thank you, Rush, for being you.” Before we get into the Top 10 Racist Limbaugh Quotes of All-Time, here are some of Limbaugh’s most recent racist statements.

Do you think any of Limbaugh’s recent rants belong in the TOP 10?  If so, let us know in the COMMENTS!

THE TOP TEN RACIST RUSH LIMBAUGH QUOTES

1. “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”

Source

No, but I’ve noticed that all racist bigots think like Rush Limbaugh. Comparing a respected black politician and minister to common criminals is Jim Crow racism. Maybe all black people look alike to him, but I’ve never seen a picture of a wanted criminal that looks like Jesse Jackson. A serial killer that looks like Rush Limbaugh on the other hand.

John Wayne Gacy

2. “Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.”

Source

The communist connection is an old way of dealing with black leaders. They used it on Martin Luther King, they’re using it on Barack Obama and Limbaugh used it on Nelson Mandela. By siding with the racist apartheid regime over a world-wide symbol of peace and freedom, Limbaugh has shown he’s a global racist.

3. “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

Source

Limbaugh is once again fear mongering and race baiting by associating professional black athletes with criminals and gangmembers. He continues the fear mongering association of good, decent, hard working African Americans as criminals.

4. “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

Source

Now Limbaugh is saying that an organization with a storied tradition of representing the positive black people for change in their communities are criminals and rioters. An organization that has been represented by intelligent professional African Americans, that has played a part in the Civil Rights movement and continues to be an intelligent, concerned voice for the African American community is degraded to common criminals. There you go Rush. Keep racism alive!!!!

5. “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

Source

Decent human beings care Rush. Someone out of that 12% is the President of the United States. Not caring about black people? Even George Bush wouldn’t admit to that.

6. [To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

Source

Okay, Rush, that’s classy. The old African bone in the nose stereotype. Wasn’t funny when the racist white school kids called the black kids that and it’s definitely not funny when a grown man with audience of millions of easily influenced dittoheads says it either.

7.  ”I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.  They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.  I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”

Source

I wasn’t super offended by this, the whole black quarterback/coach thing has been going on for years in sports, but the quote was so offensive that Retired General Wesley Clarke said:

There can be no excuse for such statements. Mr. Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants, but ABC and ESPN have no obligation to sponsor such hateful and ignorant speech. Mr. Limbaugh should be fired immediately.

When a respected, retired general condemns the statement of a sportscaster, you know he’s gone too far.

8. Limbaugh’s many attacks on Obama.

Limbaugh has called Obama a ‘halfrican American’ has said that Obama was not Black but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region, even though Arabs are less than one percent of Kenya. Since mainstream America has become more accepting of African-Americans, Limbaugh has decided to play against its new racial fears, Arabs and Muslims. Despite the fact Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law school, Limbaugh has called him an ‘affirmative action candidate.’ Limbaugh even has repeatedly played a song on his radio show ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ using an antiquated Jim Crow era term for Black a man who many Americans are supporting for president. Way to go Rush.

So Rush Limbaugh has managed to make racist attacks on four of the most admired and respected people of African descent in the past one hundred years, in Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Colin Powell and Barack Obama. He has claimed that Joe the Plumber, who isn’t even a plumber is more important in this election than Colin Powell, a decorated military veteran who has served honorably in three administrations. How can the Republican party stand by this man and let their candidates appear on his show? Rush Limbaugh’s comments are so racist, they’re funny, in a Borat, Archie Bunker kind of way. What is not funny is the millions of dittoheads who listen to him, who take in and re-spout all the racist rhetoric that he spits. Limbaugh’s statements are echoed in the racist, angry Palin/McCain supporters who shout ‘kill him,’ ‘terrorist,’ ‘communist,’ ‘traitor,’ ‘socialist’ and ‘off with his head.’

9. “We need segregated buses… This is Obama’s America.”

Source

Okay Limbaugh let’s take back all of the Civil Rights movement and bring segregation back. But you’re not a racist.

10. “Obama’s entire economic program is reparations.”

Source

So everything Obama is doing is a big plot to give money to Black people. Any evidence? Stop the racist fear-mongering.

THE TWO CONTESTED QUOTES

We ran these two quotes as part of our original list of ten. However, in the fall of 2009, this post surfaced in the debate that followed Limbaugh’s dismissal from an investment group attempting to purchase the St. Louis Rams. NewsOne has, as yet, not been able to determine the veracity of these quotes.  We note the following for the record:

• These two quotes were both sourced to a book by Jack Huberman called “101 People Who Are Really Screwing America,” published by Nation Books in 2006. The author of this book, in turn, claims that he procured these quotes from a source which he has refused to reveal “on advice of counsel.”
• Rush Limbaugh has vigorously denied that he said these things.

In sum, NewsOne can no longer vouch for the accuracy of these quotes. Nor can we trust Limbaugh, who never denied saying the other eight racist quotes on our original list, and whose own track record of duplicity gives us pause.  We keep them in our post for their news value as a controversial, and perhaps dubious attribution. Segregated, of course. Which should make some people very happy.

1. “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

Source

2. “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

Source

BONUS QUOTES

(…because ten isn’t enough!)

“Obama is “more African in his roots than he is American” and is “behaving like an African colonial despot”

Source

How exactly does and African colonial despot behave? Trying to degrade our President by attacking his African roots?

“Obama is an angry Black guy”

Source

Was John McCain an angry white guy? Was George Bush a dumb white man? Is your hero, Dick Cheney, an evil white demon? Why are you playing off the angry Black guy stereotype to disrespect our President?

ANTI-LATINO QUOTES

“Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.”

Source

“You’re a foreigner. You shut your mouth or you get out.”

Source

“A Chavez is a Chavez. We’ve Always Had Problems with Them”

Source

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YOUTUBE CLIPS ON LIMBAUGH’S RACIST RANTS

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The Young Turks Have Been Doing A Great Job Covering Limbaugh’s Racism Check This One Out

Here’s Limbaugh Condemning the Victims of Hurricane Katrina from the Young Turks

Here’s Limbaugh’s Racist Song for Obama, Barack the Magic Negro

Here’s Limbaugh Defending Barack the Magic Negro

From the Washington Post:

JOHANNESBURG — It has been an inauspicious start for the six African nations competing in the 2010 World Cup, who have produced one victory, two draws and five losses among them.

Ghana stands the best chance of advancing to the final 16. And the prospects of host South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria are grim.

Text continues after gallery …

But in the view of former president Nelson Mandela, the man most responsible for bringing the first World Cup to African soil, the tournament has succeeded because of the economic boost it has given South Africa and its promise of further uniting a country and continent that still bear scars of division.

So said Mandla Mandela, the eldest grandson of South Africa’s first democratically elected president, in an interview Thursday.

“Looking at the World Cup and the impact it has had on our community and our country, he is fully satisfied with the investments that have been made on infrastructure,” Mandla Mandela said of his 91-year-old grandfather. “That alone has enabled us as a country to have a steady economy through this recession.”

Click here to read more.

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Mandela Family Death Casts Shadow Over World Cup

Mandela Appears Frail At Great-Granddaughter’s Funeral

JOHANNESBURG — A somber and frail Nelson Mandela attended the funeral Thursday for his 13-year-old great-granddaughter, whose death in a car crash last week following the World Cup’s opening concert marked a tragic start to the tournament.

The funeral came as disappointed South Africans faced the strong possibility they will become the first host nation to fail to reach the knockout phase of a World Cup.

Mandela, whose public appearances are increasingly rare, emerged stiffly from a car and leaned on a walking stick. The 91-year-old anti-apartheid icon was ferried in a golf cart to the brick chapel of the Johannesburg private school Zenani Mandela had attended and took a front pew.

Text continues after gallery …

Mandela’s face was grave, though he broke into a smile at lighter moments during the service, including when a troupe of singers and dancers did a number in her honor. The service, which featured pop songs, hymns and a Maya Angelou poem, lasted about 2½ hours.

Mandela wore a corsage of pink roses on the lapel of his black coat. Other mourners also brightened black clothes with touches of pink — ties, scarves, flowers.

Police say a close family friend who was driving the car that crashed on a highway the night of June 10 could be charged with drunk driving and homicide.

After Zenani died, Mandela decided not to attend the tournament’s opening ceremony and first game, as had been expected. Mandela, credited with sealing his country’s bid to become the first in Africa to host a World Cup, largely retired from public life in 2004.

A private burial was held earlier Thursday. The public had been welcomed to the chapel service, and several hundred people attended, including an overflow crowd in a tent outside. Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, accompanied him. Also present was his ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who is Zenani’s great-grandmother; lawyer George Bizos, who had defended Mandela during the apartheid years, and Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela.

An anguished message was read during the service from Zenani’s mother, Zoleka Mandela-Seakamela, daughter of Mandela’s daughter Zindzi Mandela. Mandela-Seakamela said she wished she had indulged her daughter more, allowing her to sleep in late and wear make-up.

“I should have given you more hugs, more kisses,” Mandela-Seakamela said. “If I did all this, would you come back to me, if only for a few seconds?”

If there were tears, there was also laughter as a playful, precocious child who liked Hannah Montana and the World Cup anthem “Waka Waka” was remembered.

Zweli Hlongwane, who was once married to Zindzi Mandela and remains close to the Mandelas, remembered the girl asking for a drum kit a few days before her death. She already played the saxophone and the piano.

She was “always looking for new challenges in life,” Hlongwane said.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell delivered a message by video, saying she considered Zenani her goddaughter.

“I was truly blessed to have been able to say that we walked and laughed and got to play dress-up,” Campbell said. “She will remain in my heart forever.”

Zenani’s classmates in school blazers each held a single white rose, and stood with other mourners to sing “Amazing Grace” as the funeral began before a montage of family portraits, including one of Zenani hugging Mandela, was projected on a screen as a recording of “Lean on Me” played.

Meanwhile, the mood in South Africa was somber with its team at risk of being bounced out of the World Cup tournament. The team fell Wednesday night to Uruguay 3-0 and was clearly overpowered, barely making a shot on goal. Callers to a popular talk radio station Thursday morning were full of recriminations for Bafana Bafana’s coach and players.

South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, a Brazilian who guided his own national team to World Cup glory in the United States in 1994, said “We have a moral obligation to fight to the very end against France, we can’t put our heads down.” If South Africa fails to beat France in its last group game it will become the first host in the 80-year history of the competition to go out in the first round.

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JOHANNESBURG – The death of Nelson Mandela’s great-granddaughter cast a shadow over the opening day of the World Cup on Friday, dampening the spirits of a nation proud and excited to be hosting the world’s most popular sporting event.

Zenani Mandela, 13, was killed in a car accident on the way home from a World Cup concert in Soweto on Thursday night, where tens of thousands of people had sung and danced with headline music stars Shakira and the Black Eyed Peas.

Click here to view photos:

The Nelson Mandela foundation said later Mandela would not attend Friday’s World Cup opening ceremony and game in Johannesburg, dashing South Africans’ hopes the frail 91-year-old former president would make a rare appearance.

RELATED: Nelson Mandela To Make Appearance At World Cup Opening Ceremony

Mandela and his family were “torn up” by the accident, the foundation added. Mandela would be at the ceremony in spirit, a foundation spokesman added.

On Friday morning, streets in downtown Johannesburg were filled with cars and pedestrians waving South African flags and blowing vuvuzela trumpets as news that one of Mandela’s nine great grandchildren had died was emerging. Heavy security was evident in Johannesburg and in Soweto, near the Soccer City stadium where South Africa was opening the tournament on Friday afternoon with a game against Mexico. Armored Personnel Carriers were seen on the streets, with armed troops watching traffic and stopping cars.

Johannesburg police spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane said the driver of the car involved in the one-car accident, a male, had been arrested and charged with drunk-driving. Mamonyane said the driver, who police would not name, could also face culpable homicide charges.

“The Metro police found that he was drunk,” Mamonyane said. “He lost control of the vehicle and it collided with a barricade.”

The Nelson Mandela Foundation rejected media reports that the former president’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in the car, although her family said she was treated in hospital for shock.

“She was not in the car,” foundation spokesman Sello Hatang told The Associated Press.

RELATED: Terrence Howard To Play Mandela Opposite J-Hud

Hatang asked that the Mandela family be given space to mourn.

Mandela has largely retired from public life although as of Thursday it had been anticipated he would make a brief appearance at Soccer City on Friday, depending on his health and the weather conditions.

France, the losing finalist in Germany four years ago, was playing two-time champion Uruguay in the other Group A match later Friday in Cape Town.

In Rustenburg, England and the United States were holding official practice sessions Friday about 24 hours ahead of their opening match.

Diego Maradona’s Argentina squad was holding its final practice session at Ellis Park ahead of its opening Group B match on Saturday against Nigeria.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela will likely greet fans and players for 10 to 15 minutes at the World Cup opening ceremony before watching the rest of the game from home, his grandson said Tuesday.

“We believe that maybe before the game we could bring him to the game just to greet the players and greet the fans,” Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela said.

The 91-year-old Mandela was South Africa president from 1994-1999 after spending 27 years in prison during the apartheid system. He attended the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg, and any possible appearance during Friday’s ceremony at Africa‘s first football World Cup would energize the nation.

RELATED: South Africa Braces For Spotlight Of World Cup

Click here to view photos:

There have been doubts Mandela would make an appearance because of his advanced age. He was a key factor in South Africa’s winning bid, but has made few public appearances in recent years.

Mandela has a reputation for inspiring teams to victory with his presence, known as the “Madiba magic.”

It was his attendance at the 1995 final at Ellis Park, when South Africa surprisingly beat New Zealand following years of exile from international sport, that was seen by many as the moment when South Africans were truly united.

Mandela took over as president four years after being released from jail, and will be remembered for his role in changing the fate of many South Africans by fostering democracy in the country.

Nkosi said the family has had “to play a protective role in ensuring that we do not open him up to dangers” because of his age.

“To have him sit the entire 90 minutes of soccer would really impact his state of health, because it is winter after all, and we have to guard against that,” Nkosi said. “As South Africans, we wish him to live many more years to come.”

RELATED: Nelson Mandela’s Soweto House Turned Into Museum

From BlackVoices.com:

Terrence Howard has been tapped to play opposite Jennifer Hudson as South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela in the movie titled ‘‘Winnie.’ The Academy Award winning ‘Dreamgirls’ star was previously announced in the lead role of Winnie Mandela.

Click here to view photos:

The film will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, from a script based on the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography ‘Winnie Mandela:A Life,’ Variety reported.

Howard is the most recent actor to play the South African leader: Morgan Freemanreceived an Oscar nomination earlier this year for playing Mandela in Clint Eastwood‘s 2009 rugby film ‘Invictus’; Danny Glover played the politician in the 1987 TV movie ‘Mandela.’

The ‘Hustle & Flow’ actor was last seen in the action film, ‘Fighting,’ and played the role of Jim Rhodes/ War Machine in ‘Iron Man’ before being replaced by Don Cheadle. His next big role is in the Tuskegee Airmen film ‘Red Tails,’ which is being produced by George Lucas.

Click here to read more.

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]]> http://newsone.com/entertainment/news-one-staff/terrence-howard-to-play-nelson-mandela-opposite-j-hud/feed/ 2 http://newsone.com/world/news-one-staff/south-africa-celebrates-20-years-of-freedom-for-nelson-mandela/ http://newsone.com/world/news-one-staff/south-africa-celebrates-20-years-of-freedom-for-nelson-mandela/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:00:32 +0000 News One http://newsone.com/?p=436572 Read more..]]> From Guardian.co.uk:

Thousands of people are expected to gather near Cape Town in South Africa today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release.

It will be the centrepiece of commemorations to mark the moment that Mandela emerged after 27 years behind bars, ushering in a transition from apartheid to multi-racial democracy and his rise to become the country’s first black president.

Text continues after gallery…

This morning Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who held Mandela’s hand and punched the air in triumph on that day, will lead a 500-metre march from the former Victor Verster prison in Paarl, Western Cape, to symbolise the walk that was seen by a TV audience of millions.

Mandela’s former wife is also expected to address a rally attended by African National Congress veterans including Ahmed Kathrada and Denis Goldberg.

Mandela himself will not be present, but will make a rare public appearance in parliament this evening to hear the fourth post-apartheid president, Jacob Zuma, deliver a state of the nation address.

Click here to read more.

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JOHANNESBURG—Nelson Mandela, fellow veterans of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle and family have raised glasses of bubbly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his release from prison.

Mandela was released Feb. 11, 1990 after 27 years in prison, most of it spent on Cape Town’s Robben Island. In video released from a celebration at his Johannesburg home Thursday, Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC leader who helped organize Mandela’s welcome two decades ago, proposes a toast in which he says that Mandela remains an inspiration and that the sacrifices he made would never be forgotten.

Mandela’s former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and some of their children and grandchildren joined the celebration.
Mandela, who turns 92 on July 18, had largely retired from public life.

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With Barack Obama now the 8th Black recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, we decided to take a look back at past Black Nobel Peace Prize winners. Here’s a list of the eight wonders:

1. Ralph Bunche, 1950
2. Albert John Lutul, 1960
3. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964
4. Desmond Mpilo Tutu, shared with F.W. de Klerk, 1984
5. Nelson Mandela, 1993
6. Kofi Annan, shared with the UN, 2001
7. Wangari Muta Maatha, 2004
8. Barack Obama, 2009

Check out our photo gallery of the winners:

Barack Obama confronts the irony of receiving peace prize during war time

Celebrating “the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world,” New York City “takes world center-stage” on June 18^th when it hosts the inaugural Mandela Day. The celebration, launched by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the humanitarian group, 46664, urges people around the world to take time on the 18^th to volunteer in a social service activity. Organizers are encouraging the public to carry out tasks as simple as visiting the sick, to tackling broad social issues, like fighting poverty. Why? Because July 18 is living legend Nelson Mandela’s 91^st birthday. The organizers hope to make the celebration an annual event, not a party, but an opportunity to opt in.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first nationally-elected president, spent 27 years in prison as a result of his membership with the national liberation organization, the African National Congress, and their determination to end South Africa’s white minority rule, which had constructed a system that some compare to the Jim Crow South in the U.S. The comparison, while useful is, however, flawed, because South Africa was much worse. The country was not only strictly segregated but also based upon an intensive level of systematic economic exploitation not seen in the U.S. since the theft and extermination of Native Americans. For 67 years Mandela, now retired, devoted his life to combating injustice in his country; today Mandela Day organizers encourage people around the world to devote 67 minutes to make their imprint on the world.

On Saturday, New York will host an extraordinary concert at Radio City Music Hall, featuring Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, Wyclef Jean, Queen Latifah, Josh Groban, Baaba Maal, and many other artists. Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will host the event. Organizers will stream the concert globally, via a free video Flash Player called Livestream. Also, for a small fee, viewers can access the concert electronically in high resolution, full-screen mode. For viewing details visit www.mandeladay.com. All proceeds from the concert and the pay-per-view will benefit the Mandela organizations:

Ø 46664 is a campaign that bears Mr. Mandela’s prison number and champions his humanitarian work,

Ø The Nelson Mandela Foundation promotes the values, vision, and work of Nelson Mandela,

Ø The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund is a rights-based and child-centered advocacy organization,

Ø The Mandela Rhodes Foundation provides scholarships designed to develop leadership capacity in Africa.

Celebration organizers and supporters are encouraging this annual effort both as a fundraiser for the organizations, and as important, to promote this international day of service – an essential message, particularly for these times. While Wall Street appears to be slowly rebounding from its dramatic collapse last year, for most of us the economic situation remains gloomy. Analysts predict that over 100,000 non-profits will close this year and likely more in the private sector. Nationally unemployment hovers at 9.5 percent, and we know that in the African American community the numbers are at least double, if not higher. Across the nation youth unemployment is at 27 percent, as high school students compete with unemployed adults. This recession and the collapse of the housing market has seen the largest loss of Black wealth in over 50 years; the situation is likely to only get worse before it gets better.

Any international effort designed to remind us of our individual power, and that challenges us to focus, if only for a moment, on making social change, is an endeavor that we should all observe and support. So this Saturday, take 67 minutes of your time and invest it in your community. In the long term this is the only investment that will bear substantial fruit.

Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday will include more than cake, as rapper Lil Kim and ‘80s pop songstress Cyndi Lauper take the stage together to help celebrate the occasion during a concert to honor the former South African president.

The three-hour event, which will take place at 8 p.m. July 18 at Radio City Music Hall, will feature what organizers labeled as “special collaborations” between performers.

In addition to Lil Kim and Lauper, Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am will perform with Jesse McCartney at Mandela Day: a 46664 Celebration, while Alicia Keys and Angelique Kidjo share their time on stage.

Soul music queen Aretha Franklin and Josh Groban will also take to the stage in a collaborative performance.

Other entertainers include Stevie Wonder, T-Pain, Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Dave Stewart, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Gloria Gaynor and Zucchero as well as the Soweto Gospel Choir, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Chris Chameleon, former child soldier Emmanuel Jal and others.

From EURWEB

Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, TLC, Aretha Franklin and Wyclef Jean are among the artists scheduled to perform at the July 18th “Mandela Day” concert to honor former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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A frail, 90-year-old Nelson Mandela struggled to the stage Sunday at the ANC’s last rally before South Africa’s election, making a surprise appearance to the cheers of 100,000 supporters while countrymen watched on national TV.

He wore a T-short emblazoned with the face of Jacob Zuma, the party’s popular presidential candidate who drew almost as mighty a cheer from the fans gathered in central Johannesburg days before Wednesday’s parliamentary elections.

Mandela began his visit with a drive around a field in a golf cart with Zuma at his side. Then Mandela was helped onto the stage, where he was seated next to former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, one of the ANC’s most popular leaders.

Mandela did not address the crowd but listened as a brief video message he had recorded earlier was shown on a giant screen.

In his message, Mandela said the ANC was best placed to lead South Africans in “our primary task” of eradicating poverty and improving the lives of a black majority neglected under apartheid and still far behind whites and an emerging, tiny black elite.

Mandela looked in strong spirits and smiled and waved to the crowd.

It was only the second appearance of this campaign for Mandela, who has largely retired from public life. But no one has doubted his loyalty to the party that South Africans embrace for defeating apartheid, and building homes and creating jobs since it won power in the first all-race vote in 1994.

Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, served one term as the nation’s president, from 1994 to 1999. The constitution allows two, but he stepped aside for younger leaders and to focus on fighting AIDS and supporting international peacemaking efforts.

The theme of the rally, “We are winning,” reflected the party’s optimism. Members of parliament elect the president, and considering the ANC’s overwhelming popularity, Zuma, 67, is virtually assured of becoming president.

Some say the former guerrilla is the country’s most popular leader since Mandela.

Walter Kwatsi, a 33-year-old supermarket worker who carried a handmade poster comparing Zuma to President Barack Obama, was among the millions of poor South Africans who believe the ANC leader will bring much-wanted improvements to their lives.

“All the people love Jacob Zuma,” Kwatsi said Sunday. “He’s the man who’s going to deliver — deliver water, electricity, houses, jobs, everything.”

Old ladies in starched outfits in the ANC colors of green, gold and black joined skimpily clad women — also in the party colors — Sunday. Young men and women brought a touch of bling with their glitter-encrusted T-shirts reading “Young, Gifted and ANC.”

The ANC launched its campaign with promises of massive public spending to create jobs. It has pulled back on such rhetoric in the face of the global economic downturn, and Zuma on Sunday stressed the modest goal of keeping job losses in check. But Zuma also promised investment in transportation, education and health care to build a base for growth “once the recovery begins.”

Zuma, who joined the ANC in 1959, was jailed for 10 years on Robben Island, alongside Mandela and other heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle. He also spent 15 years in exile.

He was appointed deputy president in 1999 by then-President Thabo Mbeki who fired him in 2005, when Zuma was implicated in the corruption trial of a close friend and financial adviser.

Prosecutors announced earlier this month they would not pursue a separate corruption case against Zuma because of procedural problems, though they said they still believed they had a strong case. In 2006, Zuma was acquitted of rape accusations.

Zuma’s populist touch contrasts with Mbeki’s aloofness.

Some of the most enthusiastic cheers Zuma received Sunday followed his promise to “do things differently” in a new administration.

“We have seen excitement about the ANC that we have not witnessed since the release of Madiba and the 1994 elections,” he said, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

From TheRoot.com:

So Clint Eastwood will direct the untitled Nelson Mandela biopic.  Whether you like Eastwood’s latest ventures of Gran Torino or Flags of Our Fathers, Hollywood has thrown him the wheel and he’s in the Mandela’s driver seat.  Eastwood has also cast Morgan Freeman as Mandela which will probably be Freeman’s role of a lifetime.  Eastwood has also cast his son Scott Reeves in the flick, which is cool-cool.  A little nepotism never hurt anyone in Hollywood.

But here’s my issue:  Somebody of color should be directing this film.

Click here for more.

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Clint Eastwoods To Direct Nelson Mandela Biopic | CLICK HERE

From BBCNews.com:

The Hollywood Reporter said Scott Eastwood will join Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in the real-life story of how Mandela united South Africa.

It is not the first time that the younger Eastwood has starred in a film directed by his father.

Click here for the full report.

RELATED:

OPINION: Eastwood Directs Mandela Biopic? Why? | CLICK HERE

Nelson Mandela’s humble former home reopened to the public Thursday after a painstaking restoration to celebrate the life and preserve the legacy of South Africa’s first black president.

No. 8115 Vilakazi Street in the Orlando West neighborhood of Soweto was Mandela’s first home in Johannesburg. The anti-apartheid hero returned there after being freed from 27 years in jail.

There are bullet holes in some walls from shots fired by apartheid security forces, and the facade is partly scorched from attacks with Molotov cocktails.

“It is the heritage not only of one family, but that of all the people of Soweto and of our nation who refused to bow down to tyranny or succumb to bitterness,” Mandela said in a message read out by his daughter Zinzi at the official reopening after months of renovations.

Zinzi was joined by her mother, Mandela’s former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and other family members.

The three-roomed house now has a new, modern visitors center, with a small memorial garden tracing the Mandela family history.

Inside are a few of the house’s original furnishings and other memorabilia from Mandela’s life. There are photographs of Madikizela-Mandela ironing, Mandela’s late son reading in the lounge and of a young Mandela playing with a dog in the yard.

There is also the world championship belt given to Mandela by Sugar Ray Leonard and a wall of citations from cities and universities across the world.

The small red-brick house, built in 1945, is typical of the “matchbox” homes in the sprawling township that was at the center of the fight against apartheid.

Mandela moved there in 1946 with his first wife, Evelyn. He did not spend much time in the house because he was often running from security forces before he was arrested and imprisoned in 1962.

The Mandela family occupied the house until 1996, when it was turned over to heritage authorities and opened to the public.

“It’s brought wonderful memories back,” Madikizela-Mandela said Thursday after walking around the property. “The memory of all those days of struggle. This is where the battles were fought.”

Madikizela-Mandela said Mandela had seen the refurbished house and, along with the family, was “absolutely delighted” by the renovation.

Retiree Mildred Manong, 63, a veteran of anti-apartheid struggles in Soweto, said she hopes the museum will boost tourism in the rapidly developing area. Tourists already flock to Vilakazi street which is also home to South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

For tattooed and pierced Kenosi Khoza, 23, the house stands as an important reminder, especially for those who did not grow up under the shadow of apartheid.

“It is very important to teach the next generation the things people went through to get freedom,” said the young musician, who lives a few streets away.

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From Sam Fulwood III at TheRoot.com:

It’s become something of a parlor game for the chattering class to compare President-elect Barack Obama to the pantheon of presidents.

Is Obama the second coming of Abraham Lincoln? A recent Newsweek magazine cover cast Honest Abe’s long shadow behind the incoming president’s silhouette. Inside, writers Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe found the parallels between the two men irresistible. “It is the season to compare Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln,” they wrote. “Two thin men from rude beginnings, relatively new to Washington but wise to the world, bring the nation together to face a crisis.”

Or is Obama the reincarnation of Franklin D. Roosevelt? Time magazine thinks so, putting a fused portrait of the two men on its cover.

At times, even Obama encourages the idea that he’s channeling both of those beloved presidents. He often compares himself to Lincoln, invoking the Great Emancipator in speeches and in his very open effort to choose a cabinet with echoes of Lincoln’s “team of rivals.”

He also claims Roosevelt as a mentor. “What you see in FDR that I hope my team can emulate, is not always getting it right, but projecting a sense of confidence, and a willingness to try things, and experiment in order to get people working again,” Obama said.

Enough already with the dead white presidents. There’s an equally—perhaps more—apt yardstick by which to measure Obama: South Africa’s Nelson Mandela.

Click here for the rest.

ALSO check out a related story on TheRoot.com called “Where Is South Africa’s Obama?”