South Africa: Happy Birthday Tata Nelson Mandela · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

One of the world's greatest icons of the modern age, Nelson Mandela, known fondly in South Africa as Tata [father] Madiba, celebrated his 94th birthday today. In today's constantly changing political landscape world-wide, South Africa stands as a beacon of change when it comes to transitioning governments from tyranny to democracy. This transition is hugely credited to the work and sacrifice of one great man, Nelson Mandela.
Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the other of social media platforms across the world and particularly in South Africa have been trending with hashtags: #Madiba, Qunu, Happy Birthday Mandela, #67Minutes, #LeadSA67, #MandelaDay and a few others.
A potrait of Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Photo relesead under Creative Commons  (CC BY 2.0) by Flickr user Abode of Chaos.
We begin in the South African blogosphere we lead with a gpost from SA- Experience it:
Today is Madiba’s birthday (Madiba is Mr Mandela’s Xhosa Clan name) so we thought we’d share this stunning beaded craft work of Mr Mandela that we found at Streetwires in the Bo Kaap with our readers on this very special day.
But today is not just Mr Mandela‘s birthday it is also Mandela Day.
The objective of Mandela Day is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better, by devoting 67 minutes to community service.
67 is the number of years Mr. Mandela served his country.
Happy Birthday Madiba!
Visit the blog above to see beautiful pictures of sculptural artwork done for Madiba.
Then we have Bowl Philosophy and Inikak who link to a video called “Mandela Day” which shows how the life and struggle of Mandela would have unfolded in this age of social media, a very pertinent and moving video of his life.
Inikak writes about the video in the post titled “Mandela Dag” (Mandela Day) in Afrikaans:
Baie geluk Madiba! 94 jaar oud vandag!  Hy is beslis een van my rol modelle.
Hoe sou dit gelyk het as Madiba al die jare op sosiale netwerke sy verhaal kon vertel het? Hier is ‘n baie oulike video wat jy sal geniet…
Vernon Chalmers celebrates Mandela's birthday by saying:
Tata Madiba, who has bowed out of the public life, was last seen in pictures sent out last week when President Jacob Zuma visited him in his rural home in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. He had visited him after touring the construction site of a bridge that is being built in Madiba's honour to increase access to Mvezo village.
President Jacob Zuma reported that he was in good health, happy and content.
At 8am this morning, millions of South Africans, including learners from the country's schools, prominent artists and personalities, will unite their voices in song to wish the country's favourite icon good health and a blessed day – a gesture of love and appreciation that will be broadcast on national TV and by most radio stations.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will lead learners in song from a school in Limpopo.
Approximately 12.5 million school children are expected to participate in the initiative, which is part of LeadSA in partnership with the Department of Basic Education and the Nelson Mandela Foundation — supported by Shout, Brand SA and Proudly South African.
“Life is Savage” shows the popular  restaurant, Nando's, recent print ad which shares their message to Mandela referencing the generally “trouble-making” tone in which all their advertising is based:
My previous two posts have both been Mandela related and i’m still amazed that one man is so loved that he gets millions of birthday messages from around the world. What other person on this earth recieves so much attention on their birthday..none. That’s why i said he is THE greatest living human being.
Even Nando’s have showed their respect and instead of their normal tongue in cheek posters they have released this poster honouring the great man.
Nando's ad for Nelson Mandela's birthday. Image linked from lifeissavage.com/
From a younger perspective, Complete Disbelief discusses the 67 minutes campaign:
What are you going to do?
Tomorrow across the country we celebrate Nelson Mandela’s Birthday by each devoting 67 minutes of our time to something good. This incredible man has inspired so many and will continue to do so into the future.
And no, that is not a picture of Mandela, it’s a picture of a teddy I got from the boyf which I love and reminds me of kids and my days as a volunteer back in High school.
Finally, and bringing in our transition into Twitter, Memeburn has a post  titled “Twitter Madiba a happy birthday”, which covers some major south African brands and celebrities posts about Mandela's birthday:
Nelson Mandela is trending worldwide on Twitter, not surprising at all. After all today is the living legend’s 94th birthday and the world wants to celebrate with the global icon of freedom, democracy and peace.
Many users of social media have changed their avatars to an image of Mandela in tribute to the celebrated statesman. There has been an overwhelming outpouring of tributes on Twitter and videos on YouTube. Today South Africans around the world also honour the man by dedicating 67 minutes of their time to doing something good for their community or a community.
We thought we would pick out some tweets wishing Madiba happy birthday.
*Sings* Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Madiba. Happy birthday to youuuuuuuu! #MandelaDay #MadibaMeans
— Nedbank (@Nedbank) July 18, 2012
Happy Birthday Madiba, thank you for all that you have done for our beautiful country.Congratulations on your 94th cap. The Sharks #mandela
— The Sharks (@TheSharksZA) July 18, 2012
Facebookers have also been wishing Madiba a happy birthday. Here are a few of them from my Facebook timeline:
A picture from the AlJazeera News Room covering Mandela's Birthday.
Showing some Love for Mandela on his Birthday.
Many have updated their cover photo's to mark today.
A company's contribution to the 67 minutes campaign…
A funny take on things referring to Morgan Freeman playing Mandela in the movie “Invictus”…
and finally…
Since Mandela is part of the “The Elders”, they've updated their cover photo to honour him on this day.
Global Voices community wishes Madiba a happy birthday.