Mandela appears on coin for the first time
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Your support makes all the difference.A special coin minted to mark Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday was launched yesterday. South Africa's central bank said five million of the five rand (33p) coins, featuring a smiling portrait of the former president and anti-apartheid icon, would go into circulation on his birthday – 18 July.
"We want people to touch a bit of Madiba [Mandela], to share the love and leadership as the coin goes around," Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at a ceremonial minting of one of the coins in Johannesburg yesterday.
The Nobel laureate said he was honoured, then joked: "I am a bit richer this morning and I am not going to associate with poor people any more."
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