Mandela Foundation To Hold Second ‘46664’ Concert Next Year
The Nelson Mandela Foundation on Wednesday announced plans to hold a second concert next year to raise funds to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Reuters/Yahoo! News reports (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 12/22). The first concert was staged in December 2003 in Cape Town, South Africa, to benefit Mandela's "46664" campaign -- named after his prison number during his nearly 20-year incarceration at the South African prison on Robben Island. The concert featured local and international celebrities and called upon governments to declare a global HIV/AIDS emergency (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/8). The second concert will be held on March 19, 2005, at the Fancourt Hotel, Country Club and Golf Estate in George, South Africa, and will be spearheaded by the group Queen with musician Paul Rodgers as lead singer, according to Billboard.com (Coetzer, Billboard.com, 12/22). Queen's original lead singer, Freddie Mercury, died of AIDS-related complications in 1991 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/1/03). Fancourt owner Dr. Hasso Plattner has agreed to underwrite all the costs of the concert so that the Mandela Foundation can receive all profits (Billboard.com, 12/22). Mandela Foundation CEO John Samuel said that the concert will focus on the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on women, the South African Press Association reports (South African Press Association, 12/22).
A kaisernetwork.org webcast of an event sponsored by the 46664 campaign that featured Mandela at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, in July is available online.
