South Africa celebrates Mandela's 95th birthday Thursday

Zaheer Cassim and Catherine Featherston | Special for USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Celebrities hail Nelson Mandela on eve of his birthday The Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson are among a host of celebrities voicing their appreciation for former South African president Nelson Mandela, urging people to "change the world" on his 95th birthday, which falls on Thursday.

Country asks people to do charity work on his birthday

Many lament family controversy over Mandela children

Apartheid gone%2C but many problems remain for young

JOHANNESBURG - South Africans prepared for celebrations and charity work as a way to commemorate the birthday of former president Nelson Mandela, who turns 95 on Thursday in a hospital where he has been for weeks for a lung infection.

"It is obviously more significant now because of his medical condition," said Noor Nieftagodien, an associate professor from the University of Witwatersrand. "Previously, his birthday embodied our democracy, but it's profoundly more important now."

The United Nations has declared Thursday to be Nelson Mandela International Day and urged people to use the occasion to honor his work to reconcile whites and blacks in South Africa. Mandela has been in a Pretoria hospital since June 8 and remains in a "critical but stable condition," according to the government.

A Johannesburg foundation asked well-wishers to dedicate 67 minutes Thursday to charity in honor of the 67 years Mandela spent fighting to end racial segregation in South Africa.

"I'm supporting the SPCA (an animal charity) for my 67 minutes," said Chantal du Toit, 42, a high school teacher.

President Jacob Zuma will mark the birthday by overseeing the donation of houses to poor white families in the Pretoria area. People visited the hospital Wednesday to pray for Mandela and leave get well cards.

But the day is not without controversy. Du Toit and others have expressed disappointment with the way his family and politicians have dealt with Mandela's illness, suggesting he was being taken advantage of by those who are using his legacy for their own aims.

"They need to just let him go; I think they are just keeping him alive," du Toit said. "By the time they decide to switch off the machine, the country will be over his death."

Earlier this month, family members of Mandela including his wife went to court to seek the return of the remains of the bodies of three of Mandela's children. The remains had been moved from Mandela's home village of Qunu by his eldest grandson to Mvezo 14 miles away.

The family alleged he did so to ensure that Mandela would be buried in Mvezo, the grandson's home.

Yet on Wednesday, Mandela's daughter Zindzi told Britain's Sky News that Mandela is doing well and will soon go home.

"He gave us a huge smile and raised his hands ... He responded with his eyes and his hands," she said of a recent visit.

Mandela, known as Madiba by many here, is a towering figure in South African history. He successfully led South Africa to democracy and became its first black president after a government controlled by the descendants of white settlers was pressured to end a system of racial segregation known as apartheid.

"I am, who I am, because of him," said Sipho Tsotetsi, 17. "He gave me freedom."

Tsotetsi is known as a "born free" in South Africa, meaning he was born after apartheid ended in 1994. But being free does not mean being prosperous.

Tsotetsi lives in Vosloorus, a small mining town 19 miles outside of Johannesburg. He and others say the great struggle of their generation is fulfilling the promise of democracy of economic opportunity that has yet to be realized. Unemployment is at 25%, or 4.6 million people, according to Statistics South Africa. Almost half of those ages 15 to 24 are jobless.

"For the vast majority of people born since the end of apartheid, life is quite difficult because of massive youth unemployment and the very poor state of education in South Africa," said Ineke Van Kessel, a researcher at the African Studies Center at University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Van Kessel says many of the racist structures that shaped apartheid still affect political and social structures today.

"It still makes a difference if you were born white or black," he says. "If you're born white, you are likely from a privileged background and you'll get access to better education.

"But many people now born into African families still are born into a very disadvantaged background. Their parents don't have a proper kind of education or social networks you need to get ahead."

Still, Tsotetsi says he is happy to be spending his 67 minutes cleaning his school and volunteering elsewhere.

"I will go to an orphanage or an old age home and help out with whatever they need this weekend," he said.

In the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, mechanical engineering student Rameez Mayet says he won't be able to help out because of classes but intends to make up for it this weekend.

"I haven't done anything before, but this year we are going to go to the townships and hand out food hampers and blankets," said Mayet, 19.

Mayet says his parents explained to him the role Mandela played in his life and how difficult and different the country was before democracy.

"My parents told me about all of the hardships they faced and how lucky I am not to have lived through this ugly period in South African history," he said.

Nieftagodien hopes this new generation of voters will enter the political arena but said that, like many countries in the world, young people are disengaged from the political sphere.

He also said Mandela's legacy should not be confined to one hour a year.

"We shouldn't be only doing good things for 67 minutes a year," he said. "Instead we should use this time to commit ourselves in support of the ideals that Mandela stood for, all of the time."

Featherston reported from Berlin