As President Mandela enters the 81st year of his extraordinary life, South Africa is beset by economic problems. The market has dealt blow after blow to the rand and promises of jobs and housing made at the advent of democracy five years ago, have remained unfulfilled. Yet Mr Mandela and the South African people as a whole can justifiably look back with immense satisfaction on their president's and their country's performance since 1994.
Today, for example, will be Mr Mandela's last birthday as president. He has already indicated that he will stand down from office and not contest next year's elections. In an African context, and indeed in the context of many non-African States, his voluntary relinquishing of power presents a powerful example of a commitment to democracy.
In an African context too, a comparison between South Africa and the continent's other major power, Nigeria, is inescapable. The problems which afflict South Africa are those of a modern democratic State rather than of a country whose politics have been dominated by a corrupt military prepared to cling to power at any cost to the population.
Despite economic difficulties and despite the behaviour of his former wife, Mrs Winnie Mandela, respect and admiration for South Africa's president have grown immeasurably, to the extent that he is probably now regarded as the superstar of world politics, the statesman par-excellence.
This was not always the case. Revered from the start by his own people, by African-Americans and by white liberals at home and abroad, he was also shunned as a terrorist by conservative opinion in the West. It is a measure of Mr Mandela's current status that those who branded him a terrorist and a communist, during and immediately after his 10,000 days in prison, are now vying with each other to celebrate his 80th birthday by placing advertisements in South Africa's newspapers and making contributions to the president's favourite charities.
The nightmare that many white South Africans dreamed up for themselves of a South Africa falling into chaos and disorder under black rule, had its roots in a fear of the unknown and a racially-oriented mindset engendered by decades of apartheid propaganda. In many cases, such fearful predictions can be self-fulfilling and need the presence of a truly remarkable statesman to be banished from the political scene.
The adage "cometh the hour, cometh the man" has rarely been better applied than it has to Mr Mandela. He came to power following a violent election campaign. White right-wing extremists launched a campaign of bombing and destruction and strife between pro-Inkatha and pro-ANC Zulus resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.
He now leads a country which can hold its head as high as any advanced democracy. South Africa has its problems and its difficulties but it appears likely that the precedent set by Mr Mandela's term in office will make it very difficult indeed to divert it from its democratic path.