(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam). “It has power to unite people, It speaks to youth in a language they understand”, the South African High Commission marked global Mandela Day by seeking to unite the youth with a football tournament named after the anti-apartheid icon.

The South African Honorary Consul in Minnesota in conjunction with Meet Minneapolis and the worldwide Leadership Institute and other notable institutions, will host the President Mandela worldwide Day on July 18 at the Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis from 1pm-4pm.

A woman paints a shack with white fire retardant paint as a…

Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, dedicated 67 years of his life to the struggle for creating a better South Africa and the fighting against discrimination, Zuma said in a statement released Friday by the Presidency.

“This is arguably the biggest challenge to building the South African that Nelson Mandela and his peers fought for‚” he said.

Nelson Mandela global Day, or Mandela Day, was adopted by the United Nations in 2009, and asks those who want to follow in his footsteps to “Take Action”.

All over the country, volunteers handed out blankets and books, distributed toys at orphanages, and cleaned up public areas, before reporting their activities on social media. At the University of Johannesburg, his widow, Graca Machel, gave out food parcels.