JOHANNESBURG, June 12 – The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) and United Nations (UN) announced the 4th Nelson Mandela International Day will be launched next week, Xinhua news agency reported.
June 19 will mark the official launch of programmes to celebrate former South African president Mandela’s 95th birthday on July 18, a special occasion endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2009 and celebrated worldwide every year.
During the launch, various announcements will be made by various organisations about their plans for Mandela Day 2013.
To honour the day, South Africans around the globe are urged to volunteer 67 minutes of their time for community service.
Mandela is spending his fourth night in the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, where he is receiving intensive treatment for a recurring lung infection.
On Mandela’s birthday last year, hundreds of people assembled at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg to launch a birthday song for the country’s first black president.
-BERNAMA
