Yesterday, Radio 2000 launched two songs and videos to raise funds for the building of the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital.

Radio 2000 station manager Carlito Sheikh said he had to ask himself "what kind of a gift do you give to someone who has everything"?

"We wanted to give Madiba, the father of the nation, a gift that he will be really proud of," said Sheikh.

The project - which features names such as R&B star Loyiso Bala, Tu Nokwe and Pops Mohammed - is a birthday dedication as well as a means to raise the much-needed funds to build theR1-billion facility.

Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust and the Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive officer Sibongile Mkhabela pointed out that Africa was lacking in medical facilities that catered to the specific needs of children.

"When we design institutions, we design not with them in mind but with ourselves in mind," said Mkhabela.

She said this would be "the first children's hospital that Africans would lead and start for themselves".

The initiative's media and communications officer Vuyo Lutseke said the hospital's construction was likely to begin in the last quarter of 2012 near the Wits University medical campus.

The hospital is expected to have 200 beds and will provide specialised care.

Universal Music South Africa managing director Randall Abrahams stated that beyond its "commercial role music had a particular cultural role fulfil".

He also expressed hopes that people would think of the importance of the cause and refrain from pirating music.

Mohammed said "beautiful times shared with Mandela" had inspired the song he composed for the project, entitled Happy Birthday Madiba.

The other song, All About Love, was composed by Tebogo Rameetse in collaboration with Lebohang Sebele.

The public can download the songs and make a R20 contribution by forwarding an SMS with the word love or Madiba to the number 31755.

Comments

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Thu May 23 20:39:22 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 17, 2012

MommaC

If they took all the wasted cash from the various statues, street name changes, district name changes and various other bumfluff cr@p done in the 'Mandela' name - they could probably have built state of the art children's hospitals in every city in the country by now,
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Jul 17, 2012

Pointman

This sounds like a publicity stunt to me. How can some a radio station and a few artists raise R1bn. I admire people with courage - but this just sounds a bit too much like an exploitation of the Mandela name once again.
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Jul 17, 2012

CheeseBoy

all these things being done in the name of Mandela are beginning to sound ridiculous now.

this is exploitation at its worst.I bet he doesn't even know people are milking money from the public like this in his name.
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Jul 17, 2012

Pointman

@Cheeseboy - There is a cartoon in the daily dispatch - East London - that sums it all up nicely.
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Jul 17, 2012

Mellow

Oohh poor Madiba now this is just getting too mcuh and starting to bore, isnt this what they claim to do every year? Now they are just using Mandela and the poor kids not nice SA not nice at all

Again all this ppl who uses Madiba all willy nilly are surely planning to k.ill the old man they are suffocating him yerrrrrrrr, I dont think he likes this one bit
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Jul 17, 2012

GigiMavalani

This so called Mandela Day will soon lose its meaning. Why wait for the day to do good?? Its a matter of people needing attention and popularity. They expect the poor to raise 1 billion by just downloading the songs and donations of R20. Thats South Africa for you. The government only delivers when we are close to elections. Businessmen and busineswomen only want to give on Mandela Day. Is it a true giving or for popularity sake.
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Jul 17, 2012

BaleliM

Can people leave the old man alone and stop exploiting his name. Madiba will trully be proud if the circus in the govt got their act together and prioritised the needs of the nation from education, health, water, housing and saftey.
Madiba would truly be happy if this was a united nation that he once hoped for and not this circus we seem to be forced to watch.
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Jul 17, 2012

Mdala

Can't we let Mandela to rest for a change?
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Jul 17, 2012

BaleliM

@ Mellow- hello love
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Jul 17, 2012

LBS

@GigiMavalani
This so called Mandela Day will soon lose its meaning. Why wait for the day to do good?? Its a matter of people needing attention and popularity. They expect the poor to raise 1 billion by just downloading the songs and donations of R20. Thats South Africa for you. The government only delivers when we are close to elections. Businessmen and busineswomen only want to give on Mandela Day. Is it a true giving or for popularity sake.

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I agree with you 100% !!
Why not do something good every day to help someone else?

It's like the 16 days of activism against women and children abuse - sounds 'nice' but means b*ggerall if the rest of the year the abuse continues!! :(

Good morning all!!
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