Mandela welcomes guests at 90th birthday party

Guests stood and cheered, a Xhosa choir sang “Here is our hope!” and a smiling Nelson Mandela welcomed hundreds of well-wishers in a festive tent outside his home on Saturday as South Africa formally celebrated the anti-apartheid icon’s 90th birthday.

Mr Mandela – walking in with his successor as South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma – stopped to personally greet a few of the 500 honoured guests as he made his way to the head table.

Some guests had come to the party in exquisitely beaded traditional skins, others wore T-shirts emblazoned with his name. Mr Mandela wore an intricately patterned shirt in shades of brown.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winner had celebrated privately with his family in his home village on Friday, the day he turned 90.

Today was a grand occasion at his homestead in Qunu, 600 miles south of Johannesburg where as a boy he herded cattle in the hills.

The party tent was decorated with the blue and orange colours of Mandela’s Xhosa tribe and with his clan’s crest – a bee flanked by tree branches, symbolising industry, community and strength.

George Bizos was among the fellow veterans of the struggle to transform South Africa from a white supremacist pariah nation into a multi-racial democracy who came to the party. He identified Mr Mandela’s optimism as his most sterling quality.

“He always believed that there would be freedom around the corner,” said Mr Bizos, a lawyer who defended Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders during the era of white rule.

Tributes from Mr Mbeki and others and performances by choirs and dancers were planned under the tent. As the party started, herd boys beat drums outside, while an orchestra played inside.

“Clearly, today is a very special day for all of us in South Africa and around the world,” said Mac Maharaj, who served time in prison with Mr Mandela on Robben Island, and then served in his Cabinet.

Mr Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule, then was elected president in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

He completed his term in 1999 and did not run again, but has continued to take a leading role in the fight against poverty, illiteracy and Aids in Africa.

Friday was also the 10th anniversary of his marriage to his third wife, Graca Machel.