Nelson Mandela’s birthday: South Africa and the world celebrate the international Icon

Thousands of people celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where he is being treated on July 18 in Pretoria, South Africa.

The events take place around the world and in South Africa in his honour.

The former president and anti-apartheid leader has been critically ill with a recurring lung infection since 8 June.

In South Africa millions of school-children sang “Happy Birthday” to the former  President.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yfhAXlxCtQ

And South African President Jacob Zuma, who visited Mandela in hospital today,  said he was “encouraged” by his progress.

Mr Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, said he was making “remarkable progress”, and that she had found him watching television with headphones on and communicating with his eyes and hands when she visited him this week.

“We look forward to having him back at home soon,” the South African Press Association quoted her as saying.

Mr Mandela’s birthday is also Nelson Mandela International Day, a day declared by the UN as a way to recognise the Nobel Prize winner’s contribution to reconciliation.

The former statesman is revered across the world for his role in ending apartheid in South Africa. He went on to become the first black president in the country’s first multi-racial elections in 1994.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) said that on this Mandela Day homage was being paid to 95 years of “life well-lived”, dedicated to the liberation of South Africans and people all over the world.