Happy 100th Birthday Nelson Mandela! Whitney was a staunch supporter of the fight against apartheid, and during her modeling days, refused to work with any agencies that did business with pre-Democratic South Africa. In 1988, she was one of the headline acts in London celebrating Mandela’s 70th Birthday while he was still in prison. In October 1994, she finally met Mandela at The White House once he had become president and sang “Greatest Love of All” for him in The Rose Garden. The following month, she traveled to South Africa where she performed in Durban, Capetown, and Johannesburg in The Concert For A New South Africa. Proceeds from the concert were donated to South African children’s charities. Here she is pictured with President Mandela at a private meeting in Pretoria during that ’94 visit.