AP

Qunu, South Africa, Jul 19: Gardeners mowed the lawn outside the tiny museum honouring local hero Nelson Mandela, while a work crew laid new tarmac on the road outside his house and a school choir rehearsed a song they created especially for him.

The anti-apartheid icon planned to spend his 90th birthday on Friday at home in the southeastern village of Qunu with his family, and the whole village is celebrating.

''We are very excited,'' school principal Mpondomise Ndzambo said, sitting in this office beneath a photograph of the former president. ''Usually these celebrations are done in Johannesburg, so this is a way of being part of it.''

Perched atop a hill, the Nkalane Junior Secondary School overlooks Mandela's sprawling homestead and enjoys a special relationship with its famous neighbour.

Mandela helped raise funds so the school could build new classrooms and move out of a dilapidated mud structure. He used to visit often, but doesn't these days as his age catches up with him.

''He has done a lot for us, specially for the school,'' Ndzambo said. ''He suffered a lot trying to get this South Africa to be free and fair. I think he is a great man.''

Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule, then was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

He completed his term in 1999 and did not run again, but has continued to take a leading role in the fight against poverty, illiteracy and AIDS in Africa.