Birthday greetings from admirers are pouring in for Nelson Mandela who turns 90 today.
As celebrations take place around the world, South Africa’s first black president will mark the milestone at a private party for 500 guests in his home village.
Mr Mandela’s 90th birthday has also prompted the unveiling of commemorative memorabilia, including a series of stamps; a five-rand coin; bangles engraved with 46664, the name of his HIV/AIDS charity; and a collection of eight comic books depicting his life.
Tens of thousands of politicians, musicians, sporting heroes and ordinary fans of Mr Mandela - referred to affectionately in South Africa by his clan name Madiba - have posted birthday wishes on the www.happybirthdaymandela.comwebsite.
A message sent by former US president Bill Clinton, his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea read: “No celebration or card can be big enough to encompass all the lives you have touched.
“Your sacrifices, your accomplishments, and your many gifts to our world have affected those no longer with us, as well as those not yet born.”
The website, which also aims to raise money for Mr Mandela’s charities, was set up ahead of the charity rock concert held in Hyde Park in London last month which kicked off the birthday celebrations.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation has also announced the publication of a 240-page coffee table book on contribution to history of the man who led the drive to end the South Africa’s Apartheid era.
The former South African president spent 27 years in jail for his role leading the campaign against apartheid in South Africa before being elected his country’s president in 1994.
He was imprisoned on Robben Island, off the coast near Cape Town, for 18 years before being transferred to the mainland in 1982.
In February 1985 then-president PW Botha offered him conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle, but he rejected the offer.
Mr Mandela said at the time: “What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.”
It was another five years before Mr Botha’s replacement as president, FW de Klerk, lifted the ban on the ANC and released Mr Mandela.
In December 1993 Mr De Klerk and Mr Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and then five months later South Africa’s first multiracial democratic elections were held.
The ANC won 252 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly and Mr Mandela, as its leader, was elected president at the age of 77.
Mr Mandela has been married three times and has fathered six children.
His first marriage, to Evelyn Mase, lasted from 1944 to 1957. In 1958 he wed Winnie Madikizela, who later played an active role in the campaign to free her husband from prison. They divorced in 1996.
Mr Mandela married his third wife, Graca Machel, widow of the former president of Mozambique, on his 80th birthday in 1998.
Mr Mandela officially retired from politics nine years ago, but despite his age and ill health he has continued to campaign around the world for peace and an end to poverty.
PA