Gold bangles made for Mandela commemoration

Jewellery featuring Nelson Mandela's prison number is being sold to raise money for a programme that promotes the prevention of HIV/Aids, according to a report in the Citizen.

The bangles, which were shown at the Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg on Thursday, show the number 46664.

The newspaper says around 8,000 have been sold all over the world and to mark Mandela's 90th birthday a series of platinum and 24-carat gold ones will be sold.

They have been created in Gauteng from gold and pure silver, and are sources of work for 45 people being trained in working with precious metal.

Mandela helped set up the charity 46664 when he was released from prison after 27 years in 1991.

It was his prison number while he was serving his sentence on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa. All prisoners there were referred to by their numbers and year of imprisonment - 46664 was Nelson Mandela's number as he was prisoner number 466 and had been jailed in 1964.