Nelson Mandela at 90


E

EB

Well-Known Member
This is from the BBC.

In depth: Nelson's ninetieth

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Mandela celebrates 90th birthday

Nelson Mandela, the man credited with ending apartheid in South Africa, has marked his 90th birthday by calling for the rich to do more for the poor.

"If you are poor, you are not likely to live long," he said at his village house in Eastern Cape province for a birthday interview.

He is expected to spend the day at home with his family.

His predecessor as president, FW de Klerk, described him as one of the greatest figures of the last century.

Mr Mandela was jailed for 27 years for his part in the ANC campaign against white minority rule but went on to become the country's first black president in 1994.

Since stepping down in 1999, he has become South Africa's highest-profile ambassador, campaigning against HIV/Aids and helping to secure his country's right to host the 2010 football World Cup.

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Mandela's B-Day message: Rich should help poorhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080718/ap_on_re_af/south_africa_mandela_s90th

By CELEAN JACOBSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 2 minutes ago

QUNU, South Africa - Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday Friday by urging the wealthy to share their prosperity with the less fortunate and by saying he wished he had been able to spend more time with his family during the anti-apartheid struggle.

In an interview at his home in rural southeastern South Africa, the anti-apartheid icon was asked if he had a message for the world.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.

Accompanied by his wife, Graca Machel, a smiling Mandela walked into his private lounge in the large home he built in Qunu, before sitting in his favorite yellow armchair and addressing a small gathering of reporters from The Associated Press and other outlets for about 15 minutes. It was his first such exchange with journalists in years.

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Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership
By RICHARD STENGEL

Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg ? a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know ? his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast. While we talked, he held my son Gabriel, whose complicated middle name is Rolihlahla, Nelson Mandela's real first name. He told Gabriel the story of that name, how in Xhosa it translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but that its real meaning is "troublemaker."

As he celebrates his 90th birthday next week, Nelson Mandela has made enough trouble for several lifetimes. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite white and black, oppressor and oppressed, in a way that had never been done before. In the 1990s I worked with Mandela for almost two years on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. After all that time spent in his company, I felt a terrible sense of withdrawal when the book was done; it was like the sun going out of one's life. We have seen each other occasionally over the years, but I wanted to make what might be a final visit and have my sons meet him one more time.

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No. 1
Courage is not the absence of fear ? it's inspiring others to move beyond it

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No. 2
Lead from the front ? but don't leave your base behind

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No. 3
Lead from the back ? and let others believe they are in front

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No. 4
Know your enemy ? and learn about his favorite sport

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No. 5
Keep your friends close ? and your rivals even closer

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No. 6
Appearances matter ? and remember to smile

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No. 7
Nothing is black or white

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No. 8
Quitting is leading too

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He is a wonderful man, the only political leaders on the world stage that I totally respect.

Its so sad to see the leadership of the ANC / South Africa turn into typical African despots and men without vision. I just wonder how long will it be before the ANC leaders turn into Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
 
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