'Brand Mandela' – how to control the value of a legend
Mandela comics, coasters, and clocks aside: How does South Africa celebrate its most celebrated man on his 90th birthday?
from the March 12, 2008 edition
Page 3 of 3
Still, movie stars and other celebrities coming to South Africa vie for photographs with him. Bono and Bill Clinton have been seen sporting the black T-shirt with "46664" – the prison number that is also now the name of a Mandela-backed nonprofit HIV-AIDS organization. A BBC poll found that Mandela was the most popular pick to head a fantasy world government; other recent surveys show him to be the world's most respected leader.
There are critics here, of course – people who say that Mandela let the rich, white minority off too easily after the end of apartheid; or that he was an ineffective president; or that he has left an impossible legacy. But the dominant sentiments are awe, pride, and even love.
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Mandela's advisers see the occasion of his 90th birthday as an opportunity to further his legacy. "South Africans have an expectation that we would definitely make a big celebration out of his birthday," says Chantal Cuddumbey, a spokeswoman for the 46664 Campaign. For his 85th birthday, 18,000 people – including thousands of children – sent messages to Mandela via a special website.
This year there will be a number of events befitting a living legend: a celebrity-packed concert in London's Hyde Park, a US tour of a narrated symphony about Mandela, new retrospective books, and current affairs lectures.
But even as the limelight grows more intense, Mandela is moving further out of it. While many of the "Mandela at 90" events are serious, foundation-related activities, Madiba himself will celebrate his birthday privately.
"He has borne heavily the mantle of miraclemaker thrust upon him by a world hungry for happy endings," Jakes Gerwel, chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, told the press conference as he glanced over at the former president. "But transformation and reconciliation in a world riven by conflict and inequality cannot have an ending ... it is an ongoing project for which we all bear responsibility."
As if to drive home the point, Mandela said nothing for the entire event. Still, there's no doubt about the star of the show – even in a silent role. He got another standing ovation as he left.
"It's always fun to see Madiba, hey?" one South African journalist said to another.
"Oh, absolutely," his colleague responded.
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