South Africa launches Nelson Mandela Currency Bank notes

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South Africa launched a new line of bank notes Saturday bearing the image of its first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela on the 22nd anniversary of his release from prison.

The announcement pays tribute to the legacy of a Nobel Peace Prize-winner known as one of the world’s greatest statesmen.

But it will likely be met with some derision when markets re-open Monday after officials’ billing of the secretive unveiling as an “announcement of national importance” sent the rand and stock markets on a downward spike Friday.

“It is my honour and pleasure to announce that new South African bank notes will bear the image of president Mandela, the first president of a free, democratic South Africa,” President Jacob Zuma told a press conference in Pretoria.

The notes bear the 93-year-old former president’s image circa 1990, the year he was freed from prison in a moment that came to symbolise the fall of apartheid and the rise of a new, democratic South Africa.

They replace a design featuring the “big five” safari animals — Cape buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino — introduced in 1992, two years before Mandela was elected the country’s first black president.

All five notes — 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 rand ($1.29 – $25.80, 0.98 – 19.60 euros) — will now bear Mandela’s face on the front. Officials would not say what design would be on the back.

Zuma praised the former president’s legacy, calling him “Madiba,” the clan name by which he is affectionately known.

“It needed a president like Madiba to lead a bruised nation like ours on a journey of forgiveness and reconciliation, and he acquitted himself exceptionally well, as he has always done in every aspect of his life.”

Mandela, whose public appearances have grown rare as he has become increasingly frail, was not present at the unveiling.

He also missed the funeral Saturday of his last surviving sibling, Makhulu Nothusile Bhulehluthi (born Nokuthamba Mandela), who died January 28.

Central bank governor Gill Marcus said Mandela had seen the notes and was “delighted”.

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