Interview with Nelson Mandela on his 90th birthday

(18 Jul 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide exterior gates of Nelson Mandela's house
2. Wide interior Mandela's house, Mandela sitting down in a chair, helped by his wife Graca Michel
3. Midshot of Mandela chatting to press and smiling
4. Cutaway press and Mandela
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa:
"Well, there are many people in South Africa who are rich, who can share those riches with people who are not so fortunate, who have not been able to conquer poverty. If you look around, even in towns, not only in the countryside, even in the towns, there is a lot of poverty."
6. Cutaway photographer
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa:
"I am happy that I have lived until now because there not many people who look after themselves and who can live for such a long time, and I am happy that I am still alive."
8. Cutaway Mandela's hand
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa:
"I am very happy that I have lived until now and I hope that many South Africans and other people in the world will live like this so that they could be the object of admiration."
10. Cutaway birthday gift
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa:
"It is not easy to talk about the ten years of my marriage, except to say that I am happy to have had a wife like her and I am very happy about that."
12. Wide Mandela during interview
STORYLINE:
Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday on Friday by urging the wealthy to share their prosperity with the less fortunate.
In an interview at his home in rural southeastern South Africa, the anti-apartheid icon was asked if he had a message for the world.
"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.
Sitting with his wife Graca Machel in a lounge of the home he built in Qunu, Mandela said he was fortunate to have reached 90, but in the countryside and in the towns "there is a lot of poverty."
"I am happy that I have lived until now because there not many people who look after themselves and who can live for such a long time, and I am happy that I am still alive," he said.
"It is not easy to talk about the ten years of my marriage," he said, referring to his third and current wife Graca Machel, "except to say that I am happy to have had a wife like her."
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid.
He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule.
He was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.
After serving one five-year term, he devoted himself to campaigning against poverty, illiteracy and AIDS in Africa.
But he has been slowed by age in recent years, cutting back on public appearances and spending more time with his family. He often spends holidays and his birthdays in Qunu.

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