Former president Nelson Mandela turns 84 on Thursday and will celebrate on Saturday by hosting a sports fixture for children with mental and physical disabilities in Polokwane in Limpopo province.
Mandela is with his wife Graca Machel in Britain but will return to South Africa on Saturday, his representative Zelda la Grange said.
In the past week Mandela has visited the relatives of the Lockerbie bomb victims in London and attended the 14th International Aids Conference in Barcelona.
Thursday is also the fourth anniversary of Mandela’s wedding to Machel (56) the widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel, who died in a plane crash in 1986.
Mandela underwent radiotherapy for cancer after tests in 2000 showed a rising level of prostate-specific antigen in his blood following a prostatectomy while he was in prison, but in February doctors announced he was clear of cancer.
He has spent a lot of the past year negotiating in the civil war in Burundi, resulting in the setting up of a transitional administration last November which splits power between Tutsis and Hutus, although the war continues. – Sapa