South Africa lauds Mandela on 90th birthday

By Barry Moody

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa celebrated the 90th birthday on Friday of Nelson Mandela, a symbol of reconciliation in a nation now torn by doubts and nostalgia for his leadership.

Newspapers published special supplements and filled their pages with tributes that poured in for a man seen as the father of modern South Africa. Radio stations played tributes throughout the day.

"He gave us freedom. If it wasn't for him we would have not been where we are. Because of you, now I can walk freely. I can go to any school that I want and find a job of my own," student Barbara Phofo, 20, told Reuters in Johannesburg.

In a symbol of how deeply he is respected across the races, Beeld newspaper, published in the Afrikaans language of the whites whose rule he devoted his life to overthrowing, ran 12 pages of tributes and stories about the former president.

After six months of international celebrations, the frail Mandela spent his birthday quietly with family and friends at his childhood home at Qunu in the Eastern Cape.

He called for the rich in Africa's biggest economy to share their wealth with the legions of poor who still struggle 14 years after the end of white rule.

"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said, wearing one of his trademark patterned shirts.

"Poverty has gripped our people. If you are poor, you are not likely to live long," he said, sitting with his third wife, Graca, widow of former Mozambican president Samora Machel, whom he married on his birthday 10 years ago.

A group of grandchildren crowded round his chair to wish him happy birthday and kiss him. Mandela said he wished he could have spent more time with his family in a life of fighting apartheid, including 27 years in jail. "But I don't regret it," he said.

DASHED HOPES

After the euphoria when Mandela became president in 1994 and used his inspirational example to unite the nation and avert a potential civil war, many feel the promise he symbolized has been dashed.

Love and respect for Mandela have if anything increased in the decade since he left office in 1999 after one term.

Outspoken and uncompromising, he then campaigned for human rights against challenges ranging from political repression to

AIDS.

Many tributes expressed nostalgia for his rule and hopes that he would remain a guiding spirit for much longer.