Celebs prepare for Mandela bash

Hollywood celebrity Kimora Lee Simmons will join VIP guests at a red-carpet bash this week in honour of Nelson Mandela.

The Mandela Canvas - a giant work begun during the soccer World Cup last year - will be auctioned at a gala event at Cape Town's city hall on Saturday - just two days before the former president's 93rd birthday - to raise funds for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The artwork features the hand prints of local and international leaders and celebrities and was stitched together in the pattern and colours of the South African flag.

Also on the guest list are Precious Moloi-Motsepe; property mogul Pam Golding; Design Indaba founder Ravi Naidoo and Mandela's stepson, Malenga Machel.

Last year, DA leader Helen Zille and American R&B superstar R Kelly, were the first to put their hand prints to the artwork, followed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Prince Albert of Monaco and London mayor Boris Johnson.

Ten other items will be auctioned to raise funds for two of Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille's mayoral charities.

Simmons said on Friday: "The project is carrying on Mandela's legacy, both as a man and as a movement. He has come to represent so much but truly what he represents is the best of all of us."

Reality-TV star Simmons and her husband, Benin-born and Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou, are frequent visitors to South Africa.