Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor with 46664 ambassador Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Vodacom’s executive manager of marketing, Enzo Scarcella
June 18, 2008 – Nelson Mandela’s global HIV/AIDS campaign, 46664, launched the South African leg of its “Text your Birthday Wishes” campaign at Mandela House in Houghton, Johannesburg today.
The campaign is sponsored by Vodacom, which has set up a number, 46664 – Mr Mandela’s one-time prison number – to which South Africans can SMS their birthday wishes.
SMSs cost R20, and profits from the messages will go towards all of Mr Mandela’s charitable organisations: the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, the Mandela Rhodes Foundation and 46664.
Once a person has sent a message, they will receive a message back notifying them that their message has been received, along with a unique code. The code can be used to view the person’s message on the website, happybirthdaymandela website.
The website also records the number of SMSs sent globally, features 46664 ambassador messages, and has a random rotating display of messages received so far from around the world.
The launch event was attended by 46664 Ambassador Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who took the opportunity to send a message to Madiba to illustrate the path of the message from her phone to the happybirthdaymandela website.
Yvonne Chaka Chaka sends her birthday message to Mr Mandela at today’s “Text Your Birthday Wishes” launch
Her message read: “As a 46664 ambassador I would like to say: ‘Madiba, no words can describe how the whole world respects and loves you for all that you have done. Now, on your 90th birthday, all I want to say is that you are the Man of the World, Warrior of our salvation. As people you have given us back our dignity. Yem Yem Madiba.’”
Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor said the primary purpose of the campaign was to allow as many people as possible to wish Madiba a happy birthday. He said that the response to Mr Mandela’s birthday had been overwhelming, with the Foundation receiving over 4 000 requests a month from people wishing to celebrate his birthday and meet him.
He explained that some of the messages would be randomly selected to present to Mr Mandela on his birthday.
Asked how Mr Mandela might feel about this outpouring of love and good wishes, Dangor said, “Knowing the modest man that he is, he would be pleased, but also a little embarrassed. Embarrassed in a good way! He always feels that he as an individual should not be celebrated. He’s always said, and Graça Machel has said, that his values should be celebrated.”
Chaka Chaka spoke with optimism about the campaign, saying she hoped that billions of people across the world would send in their birthday wishes.
“There are 6.6-billion people in the world; I would like to see the SMS campaign receive at least 4-billion messages. People should help those who don’t have phones by sending messages from their phones. I spoke with God this morning,” she said with a laugh, “and he told me that he [Mr Mandela] will go on to live for at least another 90 years. It’s going to take another million years for another man like Madiba to come along.”
The Birthday Wishes Campaign is part of Mr Mandela’s 90th Birthday Celebrations. The campaign was launched in London on June 16, 46 664 minutes before Mr Mandela’s birthday on July 18.
The London launch saw messages being sent by various 46664 ambassadors, celebrities and politicians, including UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown; Sharon Osbourne, wife of musician Ozzy Osbourne; classical singer Josh Groban; country singer Sheryl Crow and British MP David Lammy.
Read more about other events taking place to commemorate Mr Mandela’s birthday by visiting “Nelson Mandela at 90: The Celebration”.