Not the Gandhi of South Africa

ON an overcast day in London's Hyde Park, dozens of the world's most famous glitterati recently came together to join with a crowd of 50,000 adoring fans to shower Nelson Mandela with their love and unquestioning devotion on his 90th birthday.

When presidents, prime ministers and Hollywood superstars line up to wish you happy birthday, and when your bash is hosted by superhero Will Smith, you know you've reached the very zenith of international recognition and are already inscribed in the annals of hagiography.

There are very few international statesmen or women as famous as Mandela. Since his time in prison and his subsequent presidency of South Africa, he has superceded Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa and pope John Paul II as the moral conscience of the world. All Mandela has to do is to speak out against something he perceives as evil or wrong, and it immediately becomes holy writ for journalists, politicians and tens of millions of idolising disciples who see him as a rock of integrity standing firm against a tidal wave of straw men.