Mandela Day encourages South Africans to advance Mandela vision

The Nelson Mandela International Day is gaining momentum as one of the most important public holidays in South Africa, a local research group Pondering Panda revealed on Wednesday. The group said the day is also achieving its goal to drive the vision of Mandela, who served as South Africa's President from 1994 to 1999, particularly among young South Africans. A survey conducted by the group last month found that the overwhelming majority of young South Africans were planning to take part in Mandela Day on July 18. Mandela turns 95 on July 18, which was declared by the UN as Nelson Mandela International Day in 2009 to mark his 67 years of public services. More than 16,000 respondents, between the ages of 15 and 34, were interviewed across South Africa, and asked whether they intended to donate 67 minutes of their time to a good cause on Mandela Day. The survey found that 89 percent of respondents claimed they were planning to do so, group spokesperson Shirley Wakefield said in the report. "Reaction to this question was consistent across age, gender and race groups," she added. The central objective of the Mandela Day is to encourage people to "take action, inspire change, make every day a Mandela Day". The number of young people who are participating in Mandela Day are increasing yearly, the group said. Previous participation in Mandela Day was also high, with almost two thirds of young South Africans saying that they had taken part in Mandela Day. "These figures show we can expect a very high level of enthusiasm regarding participation on Mandela Day on Thursday. It' s fantastic to see that so many young people are willing and eager to donate their time to a good cause. It shows that amongst South Africa's youth, Mandela Day is achieving its goal of encouraging people to take action, and in doing so, inspire change," Wakefield said. Mandela, who has been hospitalized since June 8 for a recurring lung infection, will spend his 95th birthday in a Pretoria hospital. South Africa President Jacob Zuma has sent anti-apartheid veteran Andrew Mlangeni to represent South Africa at the special sitting of the General Assembly as the keynote speaker on Thursday.