The World : Mandela Concert Banned

The South African government banned a pop music concert that anti-apartheid activists had hoped would be the highlight of celebrations of jailed black leader Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday. Aubrey Mokoena, an activist coordinating arrangements for the “Concert for Peace,” said the Justice Ministry conveyed its decision in a letter to the organizing committee. The daylong concert, scheduled to take place near the black township of Soweto on Sunday--the day before Mandela’s birthday, was expected to attract as many as 25,000 people. The government gave no reasons for the ban. Mandela has been jailed since 1962 and received a life sentence in 1964 after being convicted of plotting a sabotage campaign aimed at overthrowing white-minority rule.