Nelson Mandela met with South Africa’s national football team on Thursday, the same day the country’s ruling party said its most famous citizen will attend the World Cup’s opening game and the final.
Mandela wore a yellow Bafana Bafana team jersey with the number four of captain Aaron Mokoena on the back when he appeared with players at his foundation in Johannesburg.
Also on Thursday, African National Congress spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Mandela will make a rare public appearance at next week’s tournament opener, between the host and Mexico, and the July 11 final.
The announcement came amid worries the 91-year-old icon would be too frail to attend South Africa’s biggest sporting event. “Madiba will grace both the opening and the closing of the World Cup,” Mthembu said, using the traditional clan name by which Mandela is affectionately known in South Africa.
“We are very honored to have an icon of Mandela’s calibre to grace this important event. We are very happy that Madiba will come.”
A spokesman at Mandela’s foundation would not say if Mandela would attend next Friday’s match, saying they do not disclose his schedule ahead of time for security reasons. Fifa president Sepp Blatter said on Wednesday World Cup organisers desperately hoped Mandela would make the opening game. Blatter said the World Cup would not be the same without Mandela, and that his presence would be the “highlight” of the event.
Mandela retired from public life in 2004, but made a surprise appearance last year at an ANC rally before the election. — AFP