Mandela’s image to appear on South African bank notes

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma announced that new bank notes in the country will bear the image of former president Nelson Mandela.

Zuma made the announcement in Pretoria today, February 11, 2012 marking the 22nd anniversary of the release from prison of the Nobel Laureate who led the country out of apartheid to become its first black president in 1994.

President Zuma displaying the new Mandela bank note

The new Mandela bank notes will feature the face of South Africa's first black president, and replace the current safari-themed bank notes bearing images of "Big 5" animals- lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo. The bank notes will be issued in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 rand.

President Jacob Zuma said the bank notes were a "humble gesture" to express the "deep gratitude" of South Africans toward Mandela.

"It is a befitting tribute to a man who became a symbol of this country's struggle for freedom, human rights and democracy," Zuma said, speaking at the central bank in Pretoria.

It would be recalled that Nelson Mandela, 93, was the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994. He was released from prison on Febraury 11, 1990 (22 years ago today) after spending 27 years behind bars, many of them at the infamous Robben Island prison.