African Icon, Dr Nelson Mandela may have stepped out of public life but his huge statesman stature remains largely undiminished in the hearts of many Africans.

Customers of Africa and the Middle East leading telecom company, Zain, showed just how hugely the icon of freedom is to their hearts when he celebrated his birthday last year by sending mammoth amount of SMS to wish him well.

According to Zain, its customers raised more than $85,000 for the living legend’s Foundation,   46664 through SMS (Short Message Service) sent in response to the company’s call for mobile phone users to send birthday greetings to Nelson Mandela as he celebrated his 90th birthday.

Responses came from mobile phone users in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and many other African countries.

Mr Chris Gabriel, chief executive officer for Zain Africa, handed over the funds raised through the SMS campaign to the Foundation recently.

Speaking during the cheque presentation ceremony, Gabriel said: “This money, raised solely by our loyal customers, is proof that Mandela holds a special place in the hearts of many across Africa.”

Thousands of customers responded with the largest number coming from Tanzania, which for several years hosted the African National Congress when they were in exile.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is committed to consolidating and propagating Nelson Mandela’s legacy.

The Foundation through the Centre of Memory and Dialogue as its core work, contributes to the creation of a just society by promoting the vision, values and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues, while continuing to provide support to its Founder.

In addition to the fundraising effort, Zain was also one of the main sponsors of the Mandela Music Concert featuring many global recognisable faces in music, Sports, movie industry, Politics, etc, at Hyde Park, London, to celebrate Mandiba’s birthday.

The musical Show was broadcast across the world and was seen by more than 1.5 billion people in different continents. Some of finest Africa stars that performed at the show included Nigeria’s 9ice, Kenya’s Suzanna Owiyo, D’Gary from Madagascar’s, and Uganda’s Bebe Cool.

The funds will benefit charity organisations established by Nelson Mandela including 46664, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

The Foundation, 46664 is a response to the global HIV AIDS epidemic that invites the whole world to take the fight in hand. It’s goal is to raise awareness overall and educate the younger generations in particular.

46664 (four, double six, six four) was Nelson Mandela’s prison number when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa. He was jailed in 1964 for 27 years for leading the liberation movement against apartheid. He was prisoner number 466, imprisoned in 1964.