S.Africa celebrates Mandela release as rainbow fades

South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela invited one of his former jailers to help mark the 20th anniversary of his release from prison at a special dinner.The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years in prison under white-minority apartheid rule, mainly on the notorious Robben Island near Cape Town. His release on February 11, 1990, set South Africa on the path to democracy.

Prominent South Africans gathered at a prison outside Cape Town Thursday to fete the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from jail, which hastened the demise of apartheid.At a breakfast organised by the ruling party's former anti-apartheid activists, tycoon and veteran activist Cyril Ramaphosa said Mandela was serene as he prepared to walk free.

Interactive graphic on the life of Nelson Mandela as South Africa celebrates the 20th anniversary of the release from jail after 27 years of the man who later became the first president of the post-apartheid era.

South Africa brimmed with pride and anticipation on Thursday on the eve of the first World Cup on African soil as the nation's icon Nelson Mandela said the tournament would bridge racial divides.While the last of the 32 competing teams flew in, the Rainbow Nation was caught up in a wave of euphoria not seen since the demise of the whites-only apartheid regime and Mandela's election 16 years ago.

Oscar winner Charlize Theron, Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso and 2010 World Cup fraudsters have learned the knuckling-rapping lesson: the Nelson Mandela brand is not for sale.All have been rebuked by representatives for the 91-year-old who guard against misuse of Mandela's name and image, which crops up everywhere from t-shirts to email scams 20 years after his release from apartheid prison.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, turns 92 years old on Sunday, as the world celebrates the first international day in his honour.Global leaders and ordinary people in South Africa and abroad have committed to devoting 67 minutes of their time to community service, to mark the number of years Mandela spent in politics.His birthday was in 2009 recognised by the United Nations as "Nelson Mandela International Day" and will be celebrated across the world.The increasingly frail leader is spending the day with family at his Johannesburg home.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Friday said she never granted an interview to a journalist who quoted her in a British newspaper as saying her ex-husband Nelson Mandela had "let down" the blacks."I did not give Naipaul an interview. It is therefore not necessary for me to respond in any detail to the contents of a fabricated interview," Madikizela-Mandela said in a statement, referring to Nadira Naipaul, the wife of acclaimed novelist V.S. Naipaul.

Ten deaths that marked 2009:HELEN SUZMAN (died January 1, aged 91)Suzman was for decades the lone voice of white dissent in South Africa's parliament against apartheid rule. She served in parliament between 1953 and 1989 and was the first lawmaker to visit African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela in jail. After Mandela became the first post-apartheid president in 1994, she was also critical of the new government's record on fighting AIDS, crime and unemployment.JADE GOODY (died March 22, aged 27)