Mandela welcomes stars for AIDS concert

Former President Nelson Mandela welcomed stars including actor Will Smith and rock band Queen to South Africa today for his second concert to raise awareness of the Aids pandemic ravaging the continent.

The 46664 concert – named after Mandela’s prison number under apartheid – will highlight the plight of women and girls, who are six times more likely to be infected with the Aids virus than men in South Africa.

“Women don’t only bear the burden of HIV infection, they also bear the burden of HIV care,” Mandela said on the eve of the concert in George.] “Grandmothers are looking after children. Women are caring for their dying husbands. Children are looking after dying parents and surviving siblings.”

More than five million of South Africa’s 45 million people are infected with HIV, more than in any other country. At least 600 people die every day of Aids complications, according to UN estimates

“We are facing a tragedy of unprecedented proportions,” Mandela said. “Our response therefore has to be unprecedented.”

Mandela, whose oldest son recently died of an Aids-related illness, has repeatedly said that the world is not doing enough to prevent and treat the disease.

“I don’t think the South African government is doing enough, I don’t think any government is doing enough.” said Queen guitarist Brian May. The band’s singer Freddie Mercury died of the disease.

May and fellow band member Roger Taylor were two of the driving forces behind the 46664 concert.

“Hopefully we can play a small part in helping to solve the problem,” said May, as he signed autographs for children chanting We will rock you – from a Queen hit – at George’s Child and Family Welfare Centre.

The centre counsels traumatised and abused children from hundreds of families, many of them affected by AIDS, and is one of the organisations that will share proceeds from the concert.

This year’s event will be staged at the exclusive golf resort of Fancourt, just outside George, on South Africa’s verdant Garden Route.

Hasso Plattner and his family, the billionaire owners of the resort, provided the venue free and have underwritten the entire cost of the event. This will avoid the financial problems that dogged the first 46664 concert – a much bigger and more elaborate event held in the heart of Cape Town in November 1993.

Smith will be master of ceremonies at the concert, at which Ma and Taylor of Queen will be collaborating for the first time with Bad Company’s Paul Rogers. Other international performers include Lennox, Katie Melua and India.arie.