Nelson Mandela marks 95th birthday in hospital Meanwhile biker gangs will clean streets, volunteers will paint schools and politicians will spend 67 minutes on worthy projects - to mark Mandela's 67 years of public service. "Let us return Madiba's sacrifices and contributions through our own efforts to build a better society," said South African President Jacob Zuma using Mandela's clan name. Near Pretoria, Mr Zuma himself will try to channel Mandela's cross-community appeal by delivering government housing to poor whites. The government will also host a ceremony for the symbolic handing over of Mandela's new high-tech ID card, which will be received by Zindzi. The event is laden with meaning in a country where apartheid was enforced by pass books, which black citizens were forced to carry and which limited movement to certain areas at certain times. The United Nations declared the Nobel peace laureate's birthday Mandela Day in 2010, but for many this year it takes on extra poignancy. Mr Mandela has spent the last 41 days in a Pretoria hospital in a critical but stable condition after being admitted for a recurring lung infection. "There was a time that we were all extremely anxious and worried, and we were prepared for the worst," said Zindzi. But he continues to amaze us every day. Breathing with the help of a machine, family and friends have said he is now responding to treatment. His successor as president, Thabo Mbeki, even suggested he might be discharged from hospital soon. "I just hope that although he may not be able to enjoy his 95th birthday, that he will be well enough for his 96th," friend and fellow anti-apartheid campaigner George Bizos told AFP. Elsewhere global luminaries, pop stars and companies also plan to pledge their support for a man who has taken on near mythical status. US president Barack Obama urged people to honour Mr Mandela "through individual and collective acts of service." "Through our own lives, by heeding his example, we can honor the man who showed his own people - and the world - the path to justice, equality, and freedom," Mr Obama said. Born July 18 in 1918, Mr Mandela fought against white rule as a young lawyer and was convicted of treason in 1964. He spent the next 27 years in jail. But it was through his willingness to forgive his white jailers that Mandela made his indelible mark on history. After negotiating an end to apartheid, he became South Africa's first black president, drawing a line under centuries of colonial and racist suppression. He then led reconciliation in the deeply divided country.