Press release 24th June 2008

Nelson Mandela birthday party to be held in Hyde Park is set to be a grand occasion and Mandela the most recognised and universally admired politicians on the face of the globe will be celebrating his 90th birthday with a galaxy of music and entertainment stars. These types of events are always fairly exclusive affairs and no doubt there will be a majority white crowd in attendance. This demographic will also be reflected on stage with virtually no African acts set to appear.

Mr. Lee Jasper spokesperson and presenter for London’s only African based radio station Voice of Africa Radio.com and 94.3FM stated that:

“This is a rerun of the Geldof concert a few years ago. Once again we see no real African presence other than Eddie Grant and Jamelia both of whom are of African descent. We would have expected a better and more inclusive line up than this. This tendency of African exclusion reflects the paternalism of the event organisers whose attitude seems to be let’s hold a largely white and European celebration for Mandela. African artists and media have by and large been excluded from the event. It’s a disgrace to tarnish Mandela’s birthday in this way particularly given London’s African community’s solid support to establish a statue of Mandela in Parliament Square”.

Lee Jasper is available for interview. If you will like to arrange an interview or any enquiries, please contact Amma Sem at the VOAR press office on 0208471 9111 / 07950 819 519 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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'MANDELA BIRTHDAY CONCERT IS A WHITEWASH'
written by Enock K. Kimbowa , July 03, 2008

I am writing in reaction to the above story on your website. While I do appreciate the fact that there was not enough Africanness about the Madiba birthday, we also need to realise that this was not an occassion to celebrate Africa. We gave Mandela to the world and what happens after that is up to the man himself and the dynamism of world affairs.

You would even have figured it dumb of Mandela to come all the way to Europe for his birthday
treat, but then it was not! He was out to make money for his charity work, and, in my opinion, if that meant coming to Europe to do that, then so be it.

He is not giong to have many more like so if he can raise a few cool millions, why not! I dont think the Mandela concert was an African event. Trouble with us Africans (maybe even blacks in general) is that we love being associated with good things but can not work for, or support them!

If there were not blacks in the performance line-up, how many bought tickets for the show? Just so they can help the old man raise more money.

Editor, Eyecon magazine and ECO Media News

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I don't see your the problem
written by Nii Addy , June 29, 2008

Nelson Mandella is a living icon of our time.
People in Europe decided that they wanted to commemorate his life time achievements in celebration of his 90th birthday.
Now Lee Jasper is complaining that there were very few African acts on the stage.
The party was in the Uk for the people of the UK to celebrate with Mr Nelson Mandella. These people are not African they are European.
The question that should be asked is not why there are no African acts, but why there was no thought given by Africans to organise a celebration of his life works in Africa and we Africans are the ones that should be hold commemorative concerts not waiting for Europeans to do it and complaining that we are not invited.

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I respectfully disagree...
written by Mimi in NYC , June 25, 2008

I respectfully disagree.

There's another way to look at this:

If most everyone in attendance was black (instead of white), we could infer that whites simply weren't interested in Mandela anymore and didn't care to attend his birthday party. Would that have been better?

Also keep in mind that the UK is still largely white (89% white, 4% black) --if Mandela chose to have it in South Africa (80% black, 10% white), then the outcome would likely have been reflected the demographics.

Perhaps, it was Mandela's choice to have his birthday party in London because he thought he'd get better publicity for his cause as his dinner and concert seemed to be covered heavily now throughout the global, mainstream media outlets.

I'm just flabbergasted and *extremely* grateful that this man, even at the age of 90, is still out there fighting for racial harmony and unity wherever that may be.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MANDELA!!! :-)

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I'm not surprised
written by Joe Peace , June 25, 2008

This is typical of the organisers. Who do they consist of anyway? VOAR, keep on raising such issues for all to know.

Doing a good job.

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