Nelson Mandela will turn 91 on Saturday, a day that will be commemorated world wide as the first internationally recognised 'Mandela Day'. Madiba will celebrate his birthday in Johannesburg but parties honouring him have been organised across the globe.

The main Mandela Day festivities will take place in New York City, where international stars and dignitaries have been gathering since the start of the week. A star studded concert in Madiba's honour will be the highlight of a week that many New Yorkers have devoted to community service. All week, a volunteer programme has been running in the city as part of the build up to Madiba's birthday on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Madiba's family and his charitable foundation have harnessed his iconic status around the globe to promote community service on his birthday. As a result, hundreds of people from around the world will be dedicating 67 minutes on Saturday to an act of service to others. The 67 minutes represent a minute for every year that has passed since Mandela took up the struggle for equality in South Africa.

Global celebrities, politicians and ordinary members of the public have all made the 67-minute pledge. Mandela's eldest grandson and chief of the Mandela clan, Mandla Zwelivelile Mandela, has said he will spend the day in the Mvezo village where his grandfather was born, cleaning the graves of his great-great-grandparents. Meanwhile the General Secretary of South Africa's trade union federation COSATU, Zwelinzima Vavi, will spend his 67 minutes with the mainly Zimbabwean exiles taking shelter at Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church.

Thousands of exiles have fled to the church that offers shelter and food to the destitute, but the church is severely overcrowded and about 2000 exiles have been sleeping on the streets outside the church premises. The situation has angered local businesses and local government officials, to the extent that police officials have been called in to arrest the exiles as vagrants. But the lack of promised action by the South African government to resettle the exiles in new, safe accommodation means the exiles still have nowhere else to go.

Church leader Bishop Paul Verryn explained on Friday that crime has been a persistent problem at the church for some time. He explained that he has appealed to the police to visit and patrol the church on a daily basis, and while he conceded he has a good relationship with the police, he argued "it is just not good enough." Local radio in South Africa has reported that a church resident was stabbed in the chest this week, while reports of victimisation and abuse by thugs have been growing.

Meanwhile City of Johannesburg officials have said they will soon be ready to move about 700 of the Church residents to new facilities, months after government officials promised new accommodation would be found. But with about 3000 people taking shelter at the Church, there is still no word as to what will happen to the rest of exiles in the future.